{"id":428,"date":"2026-09-22T07:22:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T07:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/?p=428"},"modified":"2026-09-22T07:22:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T07:22:47","slug":"%f0%9d%90%87%f0%9d%90%a2%f0%9d%90%a0%f0%9d%90%a1-%f0%9d%90%82%f0%9d%90%a8%f0%9d%90%ae%f0%9d%90%ab%f0%9d%90%ad-%f0%9d%90%9d%f0%9d%90%9e%f0%9d%90%9c%f0%9d%90%a5%f0%9d%90%9a%f0%9d%90%ab%f0%9d%90%9e","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/?p=428","title":{"rendered":"\ud835\udc07\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc20\ud835\udc21 \ud835\udc02\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc2e\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc2d \ud835\udc1d\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2c \ud835\udc25\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc30 \ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc27\ud835\udc20 \ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1d \ud835\udc29\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1d\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc27\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc2c \ud835\udc1f\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc26 \ud835\udc29\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc2c \ud835\udc2e\ud835\udc27\ud835\udc1c\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc27\ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc2e\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc27\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc25"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Uhuru Kenyatta.Photo Courtesy of Nation.Africa.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has received a legal reprieve after the High Court declared unconstitutional law restricting retired presidents from holding political party positions after leaving office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Bahati Mwamuye, in a judgment delivered on Monday, September 21, 2026, declared Section 6 of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act unconstitutional and void.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The section had barred a retired president from holding office in a political party for more than six months after leaving the presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Mwamuye ruled that leaving the presidency does not take away a former president\u2019s constitutional rights as a citizen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said a former head of state ceases to exercise the executive and coercive powers of the State once their term ends and thereafter becomes a private citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe person thereafter stands in a fundamentally different constitutional position: he or she is a private citizen,\u201d Justice Mwamuye said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The judge further noted that political influence should not be confused with the constitutional authority attached to the office of President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case was filed by public-interest groups Sheria Mtaani and Shadrack Wambui, who challenged provisions of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act on the grounds that they infringed on the constitutional rights of former presidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Mwamuye also declared Sections 4(1), 4(2) and 4(3) of the Act unconstitutional. These provisions allowed retirement benefits of former presidents to be withheld, reduced or withdrawn in certain circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge held that a former president’s retirement benefits are constitutionally protected and cannot be varied to their disadvantage through ordinary legislation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court also found that the provisions lacked sufficient safeguards where a former president could lose or have their benefits reduced.The ruling comes just days after another High Court judgment concerning the political rights of retired presidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 14, Justice Lawrence Mugambi upheld Section 6 of the same Act, ruling that a retired president could not hold a political party leadership position beyond six months after leaving office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, that ruling did not prevent former presidents from remaining members of political parties or participating in political activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following that decision, Uhuru Kenyatta said he would facilitate the handover of the Jubilee Party leadership.In a statement issued through his office on September 15, Uhuru said the ruling did not amount to a restriction on his political activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe court’s ruling is not a restriction on my political life; it is a reaffirmation of our democratic maturity,\u201d his office said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Justice Mwamuye’s latest judgment, however, takes a different position from the earlier ruling by Justice Mugambi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The September 21 decision effectively removes the statutory restriction under Section 6, meaning a retired president cannot be barred from holding a political party office solely on the basis of that provision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling has direct implications for Uhuru, who has remained involved in Kenya’s political affairs since leaving State House in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former president has faced criticism from leaders allied to President William Ruto’s administration, who have accused him of remaining active in politics and supporting opposition activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those leaders have called on Uhuru to respect the position of a retired president and concentrate on his role as a statesman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest court decision, however, affirms that retirement from the presidency ends the former president’s executive authority but does not, by itself, remove the person’s constitutional political rights as a citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Uhuru Kenyatta.Photo Courtesy of Nation.Africa. Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has received a legal reprieve after…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[145,144],"class_list":["post-428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-former-president-rights","tag-uhuru"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":430,"href":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions\/430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/updateplug.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}