NAIROBI, Kenya- The High Court has ruled that President William Ruto’s Cabinet is unconstitutional for failing to comply with the constitutional requirement that no more than two-thirds of members of appointive bodies be of the same gender.
In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, the court found that the composition of the Cabinet violates Articles 27(8) and 81(b) of the Constitution, which require gender balance in public appointments.
The court directed President Ruto to reconstitute the Cabinet within 120 days to ensure compliance with the two-thirds gender principle. Failure to do so could expose the Cabinet to further legal action.
The petition challenging the Cabinet’s composition was first filed after President Ruto unveiled his inaugural Cabinet in September 2022.
At the time, six of the 22 Cabinet Secretaries appointed were women, a composition that petitioners argued fell below the constitutional threshold.
The case was later consolidated with subsequent petitions challenging later Cabinet appointments and reshuffles.
The ruling marks the latest chapter in Kenya’s long-running legal battle over the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule, one of the key equality provisions introduced by the 2010 Constitution.
While several courts have repeatedly affirmed that appointive bodies must comply with the constitutional requirement, successive governments have struggled to fully implement it.
The issue has also remained unresolved in Parliament, where lawmakers have for years failed to enact legislation providing a mechanism for implementing the gender principle in elective offices.
The judgment comes just weeks after a separate five-judge bench declared unconstitutional former Chief Justice David Maraga’s 2020 advisory recommending the dissolution of Parliament over its failure to enact legislation implementing the two-thirds gender rule.
Although that ruling nullified the advisory, the court reaffirmed that the constitutional obligation to implement the gender principle remains in force.
President Ruto has previously expressed support for implementing the two-thirds gender rule, urging Parliament during his 2024 State of the Nation Address to fast-track legislation necessary to actualise the constitutional requirement.