NAIROBI, Kenya — Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has signalled his willingness to relinquish his leadership role in the Jubilee Party, after the High Court upheld a law restricting retired presidents from holding formal party positions beyond six months after leaving office.
In a statement issued to newsrooms on Tuesday, 15 September, the Office of the 4th President said Kenyatta had taken note of the ruling, which upholds Section 6 of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act, and would treat it as the basis for finally completing Jubilee’s leadership transition.
The ruling, delivered by Justice Lawrence Mugambi in a virtual hearing in Nairobi on 3 September, dismissed a constitutional petition filed by activists Peter Odhiambo Agoro, Paul Muiruri Kiguathi and Damon Onyango Osawa in May 2023.
The petitioners had argued that Section 6 discriminated against retired presidents by restricting rights available to ordinary citizens, in violation of constitutional guarantees on equality, freedom of association and political participation under Articles 27, 36 and 38.
Justice Mugambi rejected that argument, ruling that a retired president occupies a distinct constitutional category given the status, benefits and influence attached to having held the country’s highest office.
“A retired President belongs to a special constitutional category of citizens that enjoys constitutionally sanctioned benefits as a person who has held the highest office in the land,” the court held.
The judge traced the law’s origins to 2003, shortly after the end of Daniel arap Moi’s 24-year presidency, finding that Parliament’s intent was to prevent a former head of state from continuing to wield political power indirectly, including by controlling or influencing a successor.
“The purpose therefore was to safeguard democracy by preventing state capture by an influential former head of state,” the judgment states. Justice Mugambi dismissed arguments that the provision had become outdated, concluding: “I do not think that this provision has outlived its usefulness.”
Crucially, the ruling does not bar former presidents from belonging to political parties or taking part in political life altogether — it restricts only their ability to hold formal leadership positions beyond the statutory six-month window.
The petition was dismissed for lack of merit, with no order as to costs given its public-interest nature.
Uhuru’s response
Kenyatta’s office said the former president received the ruling with respect for the Judiciary, framing it as a marker of the country’s democratic maturity rather than a limitation on his political life.
“The court’s ruling is not a restriction on his political life; it is a reaffirmation of our democratic maturity,” the statement said, adding that Kenyatta “acknowledges that leadership is not the chair one occupies; it is the trust one cultivates.”
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On the long-stalled Jubilee chairmanship handover, the office said the delay had stemmed not from reluctance but from an internal party dispute that required legal clarity, which the court’s ruling has now provided.
“The former President affirms his absolute willingness to see the handover completed openly, lawfully, and in strict accordance with the Party’s constitution,” the statement said, with Kenyatta welcoming what his office described as a new chapter for Jubilee built on the rule of law and carried forward by the next generation of leadership.
Political stakes beyond Jubilee
Kenyatta has led Jubilee since its formation in 2017 and retained the position well beyond the statutory window after leaving office in September 2022.
He also chairs the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition Council, a role allies of President William Ruto have separately cited as further evidence of his continued political activity in breach of the spirit of the law, though Tuesday’s ruling and statement addressed only the Jubilee chairmanship.
The ruling lands amid a broader push by some Kenya Kwanza-aligned politicians to further restrict the political involvement of retired presidents, with some also calling for a review of Kenyatta’s retirement benefits over allegations that he has remained politically active well beyond what the law envisions for a former head of state.
How swiftly and smoothly the Jubilee handover now proceeds is likely to be watched closely as a signal of Kenyatta’s own posture toward those wider pressures.
