Shares

Despite a constitutional provision in Article 104 of the constitution giving Kenyans the right to recall their MP or MCA, the process is filled with endless red tape, making it no easy task. This is thanks to the Elections Act and County Government Act, enacted by the 10th Parliament, introducing requirements that were described by the Law Society of Kenya as ‘cumbersome’.  A successful recall bid for an MP or MCA in Kenya was a little short of a miracle.

How to recall an MP in Kenya

In 2016, however, Katiba Institute and Transform Empowerment for Action Initiative (a community based organisation in Kisumu) filed a petition with the High Court challenging the provisions of these two acts. They argued that the process frustrates the right of Kenyan citizens to recall members of the National Assembly without any obstacles and was therefore unconstitutional. Their petition was successful and the case was moved from Kisumu to Nairobi, to be heard by a three judge bench.

The court ruling was passed on July 17th 2017 and from the summary of the ruling that Katiba Institute shared on twitter, the process has gotten a little easier

Here are Katiba Institute’s tweets;

On the grounds of their case in which Katiba Institute wasn’t successful;

On why their petition and the subsequent ruling was so significant,

A summary of the ruling was also published in an article on katibainstitute.org