A petition was on Tuesday filed in court seeking to compel the government to reopen schools for the third term by September 1, 2020.
The petitioner, Joseph Aura, who is a parent with three school-going children, argued that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s order closing institutions in his Address to the Nation on March 15, 2020, has no legal or constitutional basis.
This, he said, is because the address does not constitute an Executive Order since it was not duly gazetted hence amounts to nothing but a “roadside declaration.”
Mr. Aura also faulted the Ministry of Education for implementing the decision without consulting the National Education Board, respective County Education Boards, parents or learners themselves as provided by Section 5(2)(d) of the Basic Education Act.
“I verily believe that as a country governed by the Principle of Rule of Law, the President of the Republic of Kenya cannot step outside the scope of the law and make an extra-legal decision, such as has happened, implicating the right to education,” read court papers.
“With the greatest respect to him, I believe that such a “State of the Nation Address” made on 15th March 2020 by the President as a platform to close schools and learning institutions across Kenya indefinitely is no better than a roadside declaration, inasmuch as it falls short of the set Constitutional threshold of an Executive Order…”
The petitioner, through his lawyer, also wants Education CS Prof. George Magoha barred from implementing the community-based learning project across the country.
A conservatory order barring the community-based learning project was hence issued by the court pending hearing and determination of the case.