Stephen Sang, the governor of Nandi, has disclosed that he is going to the court of appeals to contest a ruling rendered by the Employment and Labour Relations Court located in Eldoret.

This comes after Onesmus Kimeli, a resident of Nandi, filed a lawsuit that resulted in the verdict nullifying the nominations of eight executive members in his government. Governor Stephen Sang was designated as the first respondent in the lawsuit, along with all eight CECs as interested parties.

In order to prohibit governor Sang and the other two respondents from pretending to nominate, approve, and appoint CECs without the stringent requirement of a list that reflects the county’s cultural, gender, and ethnic diversity, Kimeli was requesting a permanent injunction.

The petitioner also posed three questions for the court to answer: first, did the court rule on the matter? Secondly, did the respondents follow the law in nominating, approving, and then appointing the interested parties? Lastly, are they personally accountable for violating relevant constitutional and legislative thresholds?

Eldoret Judge Maureen Onyango stated in her decision that the nominations were illegal and unconstitutional since the governor was obligated to uphold the two-thirds gender norm in order to advance gender equity.

However, Governor Sang disagreed with the court’s decision, claiming in a statement to newsrooms that he appointed his cabinet members in accordance with the law.

Regarding the law’s requirement that minorities be appointed, Sang stated that, in contrast to the petitioner’s assertions that all of Sang’s cabinet members are Kalenjins, CEC Rose Angira, who represented the minority tribe in Nandi as the Sports and Gender executive member, is a member of the Luhya community.

In his statement, Nandi County Boss stated that the matter was still pending in the Court of Appeal because the vetting of the ministers and executive members at the counties who were re-appointed had been questioned in the High Court, and stay orders were granted.

The petitioner had also prayed to the court to overturn Sang’s executive on the grounds that five executive members who served in his first term and were re-appointed were never subject to vetting.

Governor Sang will be resubmitting the same names that he nominated to the assembly for vetting, even though he has stated that he will file an appeal pending the outcome.

The delay in resolving the case might potentially jeopardize and stall development and operations in the aforementioned departments.