Scribe Kenyan

Following a preliminary objection by the Respondent regarding the Applicant's locus standi, the Applicant tried to argue that the language used under Article 163 (6), which gives locus standi to national, county, and state organs to obtain advisory opinions from the SCOK, can be broadly interpreted to mean the people by citing the meaning of 'state' and 'county government' by the Blacks Law Dictionary. The court held that it had pronounced itself on this issue of jurisdiction again in various cases, notably Re Interim Independent Electoral Commission [2011] eKLR where it issued guidelines on how it can exercise the jurisdiction: The reference must be regarding any matter concerning county governments (to be determined on case by case basis). The party must be the National Govt, County Govt or State Organ (defined under Art 260 of the Constitution) Where the reference concerns a matter before a lower court, the SCOK must be hesitant to hear it. However, it can do so...

  ABSTRACT Public participation is an essential element of democracy. In a republic such as Kenya where the people are the real custodians of the sovereign power, it becomes necessary for them to be given a chance to directly exercise this power. Even though the Constitution recognizes the direct exercise of sovereign power, it is silent on how this is to be achieved. This article takes the opinion that sovereign power is exercised directly through public participation and takes note of the fact that the mechanism through which public participation can be achieved is not outlined in the Constitution. For this reason, the article examines various constitutional provisions that lay the foundation through which public participation can footed. Further, the essay looks into the attempted creation of legislation and policy on public participation and finally the threshold for sufficient public participation. 1.      Introduction In Kenya, as per Article...