Court orders CS Juma to file response over Mwinzi envoy job

Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma has until Tuesday to file a response in a suit filed by South Korean ambassador nominee Mwende Mwinzi.

State lawyer representing CS Juma informed High Court Judge James Makau that he has not yet received instructions from her to file any responses and submissions.

Mwinzi is challenging a parliamentary committee recommendation to the President to replace her as the designated envoy to the Republic of South Korea.

Juma's lawyer asked for 14 days to allow him to get proper instructions from the CS and the Solicitor General before filing responses in the case.

"The matter raises serious questions of law and within 14 days I will be able to get instructions on whether to ask the court to refer the matter to the CJ to empanel a bench to hear the matter," the CS's lawyer said.

Mwende through her lawyer Tom Ojienda argued that the committee’s recommendation was unconstitutional and illegal since only a state office requires an appointee to hold Kenyan citizenship alone.

Ojienda further asked the court to reject an application for adjournment saying the 14 days requested were only for mischief.

Justice Makau has thus ordered the CS to file her response by Tuesday, failing which the court will proceed with the hearing on October 9.

Mwinzi moved to the High Court to compel the Foreign Affairs CS to designate and post her to Seoul as the country’s envoy, saying she had complied with all the requirements for the position.

According to Mwinzi, she is a US citizen by birth and cannot renounce this before taking up the position as recommended by Parliament’s Departmental Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations.

On May 2 President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated Mwinzi but after vetting, MPs recommended that she should only be appointed after she renounces her American citizenship.

“My US citizenship was acquired by birth and as such, my citizenship or the process of opting in was a consequence of circumstances out of my control,” read her court papers.