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Court of Appeal has denied Former Nairobi County Assembly Clerk Jacob Ngwele leave to appeal ruling that affirmed Edward Gichana as substantive Clerk Nairobi County Assembly.
The Court of Appeal had earlier upheld ruling by High Court that affirmed Gichana as duly appointed Clerk of Nairobi County Assembly.
According to the Court of Appeal Ngweles’ petition lacks merit and therefore can not be entertain by the Supreme Court.
The court further noted that Ngweles’ petition do not hold public interest and it was only satisfying applicants’ personal interests.
“The issues raised herein by the applicant do not, in our view,transcend the applicant’s personal interests. We have looked at the pleadings filed before the trial court and the orders sought by the applicant in the trial court and in this Court and fully agree with the respondents that they are related to the applicant in personal capacity,” the Court of appeal said in it’s ruling.
“The applicant is not raising any novel issues for determination by the Supreme Court. The issues he is raising in his application have been raised and determined by various courts before and are, in our view, well settled. The issues raised do not transcend the litigation interests of the parties herein, nor do they raise any issues of general public importance circumstances of this case, it is our considered view that there will be no jurisprudential value in having the Supreme Court address itself to the issues identified by the applicants. In the circumstances, the present application is without merit, and it is hereby dismissed with costs to the respondent,” the ruling added.
In October 2020, Justice Onyango ruled Ngwele’s appointment to the clerk’s office was shrouded in irregularities and suspended all orders given in relation to the case.
In July 2020, Employment and Labour Relations Court judge Maureen Onyango gave the assembly 45 days to recruit a clerk.
The assembly’s board declared the vacancy and 11 people were interviewed, including Edward Gichana.
On July 24, Gichana was sworn in as the new clerk but a few days later the court suspended the gazettement of his appointment.
On August 5, 2020, Justice Onyango ordered Ngwele to step aside pending the hearing and determination of his case.
“It was the court’s view that though Ngwele is the current clerk of the assembly, he should step aside until the case is concluded,” the court ruled previously.
“In the meantime, the deputy clerk currently in office will take over the functions of the clerk until the petition is determined.”
At this point, despite both Pauline Akuku (administration) and Adah Onyango (legislative) being deputy clerks, Akuku took over in an acting capacity.
Ngwele’s stepping aside paved way for Gichana to take over as the substantive clerk.
However, Ngwele moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge the Labour court’s ruling that he was illegally in office.
In June 2021, an appellate court ordered assembly clerk Edward Gichana to vacate the office pending the determination of a lawsuit against him.
The court also stayed an order on October 16, 2020, a ruling by the Employment and Labour Relations Court that saw Jacob Ngwele kicked out of office.
Consequently, the then assembly speaker Benson Mutura appointed the deputy clerk in charge of legislative matters, Adah Onyango, to take over from Gichana in an acting capacity.
In a letter addressed to Adah, the speaker said the appointment was in compliance with the court’s decision.
In December 2021, the County Assembly Service Board appointed Gavin Castro as acting clerk following a court order that left the office vacant.
He was in office until the coming back of Edward Gichana.
Following the r uling of Friday, April 3, 2022 Gichana came back and started serving as the Assembly clerk up to date.
