Case against curfew case put off to December
Police on patrol in Garissa Town. A case challenging the curfew imposed on the town last year has been postponed to December. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP.
The case challenging the constitutionality of the curfew the government imposed on four counties after the Garissa University College terror attack last year has been adjourned.
Police Inspector-General Joseph Boinnet restricted movement from dusk to dawn in Garissa, Wajir, Tana River and Mandera after Al-Shabaab terrorists killed 147 people, most of them students.
Justice George Dulu on Tuesday adjourned the case to December 13 to allow the petitioners to respond to government submissions.
IG'S POWER
The case, according to the petitioner’s lawyer Yussuf Bashir, concerns the power of the Inspector-General of Police to declare curfews without reference to the National Assembly.
It is the petitioners' case that the Public Order Act, which empowers the IG to impose curfews, is discriminatory contrary to Article 27 of the Constitution.
This case is attracting a lot of attention owing to the existing dawn-to-dusk curfew imposed on Mandera County after recent attacks that claimed several lives.
The curfew on the four counties was temporarily lifted in June last year for Ramadhan prayers only to be restored a month later.
Northern Kenya has a history of rampant insecurity due to its proximity to Somalia, and the Kenyan government has responded to attacks with dawn-to-dusk curfews.
