Court Deals Blow to Maraga as It Rejects Parliament Dissolution Advisory

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The High Court has declared unconstitutional an advisory issued by former Chief Justice David Maraga recommending the dissolution of Parliament over its failure to implement the constitutional two-thirds gender principle.

In a judgment delivered on Friday, June 5, a five-judge bench found that the advisory did not satisfy the procedural requirements set out in the Constitution and was therefore issued prematurely.

The bench comprising Justices Tabitha Ouya, Patricia Nyaundi, Moses Ado, Lawrence Mugambi and Jairus Ngaah held that the constitutional process leading to the advisory had not been fully exhausted before Maraga recommended the dissolution of the 12th Parliament.

Court Finds Constitutional Process Was Incomplete

According to the judges, the advisory was issued before court orders relating to the matter had been formally transmitted to Parliament and the Attorney General as required under Article 261(6)(b) of the Constitution.

The court’s determination brings to an end a long-running legal and constitutional dispute that stemmed from Parliament’s failure to enact legislation necessary to operationalise the two-thirds gender rule, a constitutional requirement aimed at ensuring that no more than two-thirds of members in elective and appointive bodies are of the same gender.

In 2020, Maraga advised former President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve Parliament after lawmakers failed to pass the necessary legislation despite repeated court directives.

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Gender Representation Remains Below Constitutional Threshold

Despite years of litigation and public debate, Parliament continues to fall short of the constitutional threshold on gender representation.

At the time Maraga issued the advisory, women constituted slightly more than 21 per cent of members in the National Assembly and 31 per cent in the Senate during the 12th Parliament.

In the current 13th Parliament, women account for 23% of members in the National Assembly and 31.3% in the Senate, figures that remain below the constitutional target.

The advisory effort received support from former Law Society of Kenya President and Senior Counsel Nelson Havi, who has consistently defended the move as a legitimate attempt to compel compliance with the Constitution.

“C J David Maraga and I did our part in securing the advisory to the President to dissolve Parliament for failure of compliance with and non-enactment of two-thirds rule laws,” Havi wrote in a social media post.

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Maraga Faces Fresh Political and Public Scrutiny

The court ruling comes at a time when Maraga has increasingly found himself at the centre of public debate over governance and gender-related issues.

Ahead of the judgment, Havi dismissed criticism directed at the former Chief Justice over women’s issues, arguing that recent attacks against him were unjustified and based on misinformation.

The criticism emerged after Maraga joined demonstrators during an anti-femicide and anti-infanticide march held in Nairobi’s Central Business District on June 1.

Separately, former campaign secretary Shakira Wafula, who previously worked under Maraga’s United Green Movement Party (UGM), alleged on social media that women were sidelined during the handling of sexual harassment complaints within his 2025 campaign.

However, UGM rejected the allegations and maintained that established procedures were followed.

The party stated that an Ad-Hoc Complaint Committee was formed to investigate the claims and hear all parties involved.

According to the party, Wafula initially declined to submit written complaints and later failed to participate in an official hearing conducted on November 26, 2025.

Following the proceedings, the committee reportedly found no evidence to support the allegations.

UGM further clarified that Maraga was never personally accused of sexual harassment and described the recent claims as a campaign of disinformation and character assassination.

The party also maintained that women continue to occupy significant leadership and operational roles within Maraga’s anticipated 2027 political campaign.

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