CBC petition to be heard by judge bench- court directs

High Court has upheld an application seeking to have a judge bench determine the petition challenging the Competency-based Curriculum (CBC).

In a verdict given on Thursday, November 25, Justice Antony Mrima referred the case to the Chief Justice and asked her to appoint a judge-bench of at least five judges to determine the petition.

“I certify CBC Petition as raising substantial and novel issues requiring consideration by an uneven number of judges, of not less than five to be assigned by the Chief Justice,” Justice Mrima ruled.

The petitioner, lawyer Esther Ang’awa had asked the court to request Chief Justice Martha Koome to empanel a bench of more than five judges to hear the case.

“I am of the view that this case touches on weighty issues, which require more than one judge to settle,” she argued in her petition.

The Judge also directed the parties involved to appear before the judge-bench on Tuesday, December 7.

The petitioner argues that the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) was rolled out without prior preparations and consultations adding that its implementation will harm children's future because the teachers were ill-prepared.

In her case, she sued Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), National Assembly, and Interior CS Fred Matiang’i.

“The actions of the first to the fourth respondents as set out in the petition are manifestly unconstitutional and unlawful, are prejudicial to the future of the children of Kenya and ought to be halted pending the hearing and determination of the questions raised,” her lawyer, Nelson Havi, the Law Society of Kenya president, argues.