The High Court has dealt a blow to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) in its plans to phase out 14-seater PSVs.
Justice Weldon Korir on Thursday, July 16, declared the project which was to kick off in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu illegal and unconstitutional. He cited lack of public participation.
“It was incumbent upon the makers of the regulations to demonstrate that the public was involved in the enactment of the regulations. The respondents have failed to prove that there was public participation in the enactment of the impugned regulation,” Justice Korir ruled.
The Court ruled that Legal Notice No. 179 of 2014 ought to have been submitted to Parliament for approval, hence failure to do so rendered it null and void within seven days of publication.
“The Court, therefore, finds that Regulation 4 of Legal Notice No. 179 of 2014 did not comply with this particular constitutional requirement for enactment of legislation.”
Justice Koriri also noted that the law on public participation is now well developed in the country and public participation is a mandatory requirement in the process of making legislation including subsidiary legislation.
At the same time, the Court declined to quash all the other directives by the government including BRT, yellow lines on the matatus, seat belts and speed governors.
The Judge noted that the laws were already in place and there is no need to stop what is already in force.
“As pointed out by Kenya Bureau of Standards, the standards have been established. The petitioners made a generalised complaint about the products being substandard but did not avail evidence to support their claim,” the court held.
