Court orders State not to destroy Sonko's sanitiser booths
Nairobi residents use a sanitiser spray booth installed by the Sonko Rescue Team at the Kencom bus stage, April 19, 2020. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Justice Korir also barred agents and officials of relevant government agencies from stopping donation of foodstuff and face masks to residents of several parts of the city.
- The judge said the directives will remain until a case by the SRT, which is associated with Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko, is heard and determined.
- The SRT filed the case through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, who said the defendants acted maliciously and in total contravention of Article 27 (4) of the Constitution.
The High Court has stopped destruction of the sanitiser booths that the Sonko Rescue Team (SRT) erected in several parts of Nairobi pending determination of a case the team filed against the State.
Justice Weldon Korir on Tuesday asked Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe, Inspector-General of Police Hilary Mutyambai and the Nairobi Regional Security Commissioner Wilson Njenga to stop the exercise.
Justice Korir said no demolitions should take place in areas including the Kencom bus stage, Mathare, Korogocho, Nyayo Estate, Greenspan, the area outside Kenyatta National Hospital and Buruburu shopping centres.
He also barred agents and officials of relevant government agencies from stopping donation of foodstuff and face masks to residents of areas including Mathare, Kibra, Buruburu, Greenspan.
The judge said the directives will remain until a case by the SRT, which is associated with Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko, is heard and determined.
He directed the lawyer to serve the court pleadings to the respondents by April 30 and set the hearing for May 12.
'MALICIOUS INTENT'
The SRT filed the case through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, who said the defendants acted maliciously and in total contravention of Article 27 (4) of the Constitution.
Mr Kinyanjui accused the respondents of discriminating against the beneficiaries of donations by a non-governmental organisation.
The rescue team says it put up the booths at a cost of Sh400,000 and that it spent an equal amount in Mombasa County.
It also says it has distributed relief food and face masks worth Sh5 million.
The SRT further notes that it has assisted vulnerable people under different circumstances and that other well-wishers have not been stopped from giving aid.
It cites Mama Ngina, who has donated foodstuff worth Sh20 million and similar initiatives by former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka (Mombasa), former Prime Minister Raila Odinga (Kibra) and the Sarova Hotels.
The case is supported by an affidavit sworn by the SRT's Operations Manager Bernard Kiio Mulwa.
Mr Mulwa says the team's efforts should be complemented by the respondents as a good gesture in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
