Jubilee Deputy Party Leader Jeremiah Kioni has welcomed the High Court ruling allowing retired presidents to engage in active politics, saying it protects the constitutional rights of former leaders, including Uhuru Kenyatta.
In a statement on Monday, Kioni described the decision as “a significant victory for democracy, constitutionalism and the Bill of Rights”, arguing that leaving office should not strip a former president of political rights.
“The Constitution does not retire a citizen from exercising their fundamental political rights simply because they once held the highest office in the land,” Kioni said.
He said the court had affirmed that a former president becomes a private citizen after leaving office and retains the rights and freedoms guaranteed to every Kenyan.
Kioni also criticised what he described as attempts to create divisions within Jubilee over succession and transition.
“We must also condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the conduct of individuals who have spent the last few days maligning others, manufacturing divisions, spreading defamatory claims and creating unnecessary political confusion in the name of party succession and transition,” he said.
He said political disagreements should not be used to justify “defamation, intimidation or the deliberate creation of false narratives”.
Kioni further insisted that Uhuru remained in charge of Jubilee, saying his leadership and political participation could not be removed through “social media campaigns, propaganda or attempts to manufacture a succession crisis”.
“Let there be no ambiguity: H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta remains firmly in charge of the Jubilee Party,” Kioni said.
The High Court ruling by Justice Bahati Mwamuye declared Sections 4(1), 4(2), 4(3) and the entirety of Section 6 of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act unconstitutional, null and void. The court said a former president ceases to exercise the “coercive and executive authority” of the State after leaving office and becomes a private citizen.
Justice Mwamuye also struck down the provision that barred a retired president from holding political party office beyond six months after leaving State House, finding that the restriction interfered with political rights protected under Article 38.
The judgment contrasts with an earlier ruling by Justice Lawrence Mugambi, who upheld Section 6 of the Act and found the restriction on retired presidents holding party leadership beyond six months to be a reasonable limitation of political rights.
The conflicting decisions leave two differing High Court positions on the political rights of retired presidents, with the latest ruling reopening the question of Uhuru Kenyatta’s role in Jubilee.