NAIROBI, Kenya- President William Ruto’s advisers will remain in office for now after the Court of Appeal suspended the implementation of a High Court judgment that had declared the creation of the advisory offices unconstitutional.
The ruling was delivered on Friday, March 13, 2026, by a three-judge bench in Nairobi.
The appellate court granted a stay of execution pending the hearing and determination of the government’s intended appeal, handing a temporary reprieve to the advisers whose positions had been invalidated by the High Court in January.
According to the ruling, the judges found that the intended appeal raised arguable issues and that failing to grant a stay could render the appeal nugatory if it eventually succeeded.
The court said the case involved competing public interest considerations, noting that an immediate removal of the advisers could disrupt operations within the Office of the President.
It also held that the matter required a proportionality assessment before deciding whether to suspend the High Court judgment.
Lawyers supporting the application argued that enforcing the earlier judgment right away would paralyse key Executive functions, trigger administrative disruption and create uncertainty because no formal handover process had taken place.
But opponents of the application maintained that allowing the advisers to remain in office would amount to permitting the continuation of positions already found by the High Court to be unconstitutional.
The Court of Appeal distinguished the matter from earlier litigation surrounding the now-defunct Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) positions, where the courts had declined to allow occupants of unconstitutional offices to continue serving.
In this instance, the judges said the advisers were already in office and carrying out their duties when the High Court issued its judgment, making the present dispute materially different.
The ruling effectively pauses enforcement of the January 22, 2026, High Court decision that nullified the establishment of several advisory offices in the Presidency.
That judgment had triggered a broader legal and political battle over the structure, legality and public cost of the President’s advisory team.
Among the advisers affected by the dispute are prominent figures in President Ruto’s administration, including David Ndii, Makau Mutua, Monica Juma, Harriet Chigai and Edward Kisiang’ani, according to earlier reporting on the fallout from the High Court decision.
The appellate judges also recommended that the President of the Court of Appeal prioritise the hearing of the intended appeal, underscoring the public interest weight of the matter.
Costs of the application, the court said, will abide by the outcome of the appeal.
The decision now sets the stage for a substantive appeal that could determine whether the advisory offices survive permanently or whether the January High Court judgment will ultimately be upheld.
