Don’t move head office, judge insists
What you need to know:
- Ms Onsari said there was no construction taking place on the Rumuruti plot and that it would take at least two years to relocate. She claimed Mr Kimunya had sourced his information from a newspaper article.
The Laikipia county government should not move its headquarters from Nanyuki to Rumuruti until a final High Court verdict in a case before it.
Mr Justice James Wakiaga, sitting in Nyeri made the ruling Wednesday when the case came up for mention.
On April 5, Justice Wakiaga halted the relocation after lawyer Robert Kimunya, for the applicants, claimed the governor and county assembly officials had started vacating their offices.
The applicants among them, Mr Sammy Ndung’u, are seeking to restrain the governor and the county assembly from relocating the head office.
They maintain that there was no public participation regarding plans to move the headquarters.
According to them, the public should have been consulted on such a crucial matter.
However, Ms Rose Onsari, for the governor and the county assembly, said it was impossible for the officials to move from the current headquarters to an empty piece of land. “There is no information in the Hansard directing the relocation of the headquarters,” she said.
Ms Onsari said there was no construction taking place on the Rumuruti plot and that it would take at least two years to relocate. She claimed Mr Kimunya had sourced his information from a newspaper article.
Ms Onsari requested the court to grant her more time to get relevant documents before commencement of the suit.
On February 5, the assembly passed a motion to shift the county headquarters to Rumuruti Town.
