See you in court, ex-CJ Maraga tells Ruto over new legislations

Retired Chief Justice David Maraga has criticised President William Ruto for assenting into law eight controversial bills moments after the death of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Maraga said the matter will now be resolved by the courts, as he questioned the urgency of assenting them into law at a time the country was mourning. He termed the controversial laws a mockery of the ideals Raila espoused.

The bills assented into law by the President include National Land Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023; Land (Amendment) Bill, 2022; Wildlife Conservation and Management (Amendment) Bill, 2023; and Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes (Amendment) Bill, 2024.

The others are the National Police Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2024; Air Passenger Service Charge (Amendment) Bill, 2025; Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill, 2025; and the Privatization Bill, 2025.

“With my assent, these laws now become part of the Statutes of the Republic of Kenya, reinforcing our collective commitment to address historical injustices, entrench equity and transparency and accelerate our national development and transformation agenda,” said Ruto.

Maraga said that the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crimes (Amendment) Act, 2024 was intended to stifle the freedoms that the citizens enjoy and accused  Kenya Kwanza administration of planning to use it to muzzle citizens critical of its unpopular policies.

Instil fear

The former Chief Justice said that the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act may be used to target critics of government and that the hefty fines would inhibit freedoms by instilling fear.

He accused Parliament of being used as rubber stamp by the Executive to approve unpopular bills while ignoring concerns raised by Kenyans.

“We will be moving to court to challenge the decision made by the President to assent to these eight controversial bills into law since some of them are meant to stifle the democratic gains we have made so far. We are not going to allow them to be used to instil fear,” said Maraga.

Separately, gospel musician Reuben Kigame and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) moved to court seeking suspension of the implementation of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, arguing that law is unconstitutional.

In their petition filed at the Milimani High Court, the applicants stated that the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes (Amendment) Bill, 2024 was passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the President without participation and approval of the Senate.

“The Bill was passed by the National Assembly and assented without being referred to the Senate for deliberation and approval as required under Article 110 of the Constitution, thereby rendering the entire enactment process fatally flawed,” reads the petition.

The petition lists the Attorney General and the Speaker of the National Assembly as the respondents.

Kenya Union of Journalists, the Media Council of Kenya, Law Society Of Kenya and Data Protection Commissioner were enjoined as interested parties.

The applicants argued that provision of the new law lacks legal clarity which could lead to misinterpretation and abuse, contravening the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, freedom of the media, access to information, and freedom of association as enshrined in the Constitution.

The Privatisation Act (National Assembly Bill Number 36 of 2025), sponsored by National Assembly Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wah, establishes an Act of Parliament to provide a regulatory framework for the Privatisation of public entities.

The Privatisation Act seeks to repeal and re-enact the regulatory framework of public entities with a view of improving the efficiency of public entities while providing for the coordination and oversight of Privatisation matters and provides for the establishment, functions and administration of the Privatisation Authority.

The Virtual Asset Service Providers Act (National Assembly Amendment Bill No.15 of 2025) sponsored by Molo MP Kuria Kimani aims to regulate the virtual assets sector with at least Sh130 billion in terms of foreign direct investment and the potential to create at least 25,000 jobs in Kenya.

“We have approximately 6.1 million Virtual Assets Services users with the country having the potential to generate at least Sh130 billion in terms of foreign direct investment and the potential to create, at least, 25,000 jobs in Kenya in the next one year,” said Kimani.

Kimani highlighted Kenya’s impressive engagement with digital assets ranking third in Africa on-chain weighted transactions volume adding that in the last one year, Kenya has traded in at least Sh258 billion in decentralized protocols, liquidity aggression and synthetic platforms.

According to the Act, any individual or entity engaging in virtual asset services in Kenya will be required to obtain a license from a designated regulatory authorities, which could include Capital Markets Authority, Central Bank of Kenya or the proposed Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.