Kenya’s National Assembly has filed a Cabinet gender rule appeal against a High Court judgment that declared President William Ruto’s Cabinet unconstitutional. The appeal was lodged through the Office of the Speaker, Moses Wetang’ula, who notified the Court of Appeal of Parliament’s intention to challenge the ruling.
The judgment at the centre of the Cabinet gender rule appeal was delivered on 30 June 2026. A three judge bench comprising Justices Eric Ogola, Stephen Githinji and Jairus Ngaah heard the case. Ogola and Githinji formed the majority. Ngaah dissented.
According to the bench, President Ruto’s Cabinet has 25 members. Eighteen are men and seven are women, meaning women hold just 28 per cent of Cabinet positions. That falls below the one third minimum set out in Article 27(8) of the Constitution. The judges held that at least nine positions should go to the underrepresented gender.
The High Court found the Cabinet’s composition inconsistent with Articles 27 and 10 of the Constitution, which guarantee equality and freedom from discrimination. It then directed President Ruto to reconstitute the Cabinet within 120 days to bring it into line with the gender rule.
Parliament’s Cabinet gender rule appeal does not only contest the finding of unconstitutionality. The National Assembly is also asking the Court of Appeal to suspend the 120 day directive while the case is heard. In its Notice of Appeal, Parliament and the Speaker, listed as the second and fourth respondents, stated they were dissatisfied with parts of the judgment and intend to have them overturned.
The case originated from petitions filed by governance activist Wanjiru Gikonyo, alongside the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Katiba Institute. The petitioners challenged Cabinet appointments made after Ruto dissolved his entire Cabinet on 11 July 2024, following nationwide anti-government protests. He later reappointed several dismissed Cabinet Secretaries and brought opposition figures into what he termed a broad-based government.
Notably, the High Court did not side with the petitioners on every count. The judges upheld Ruto’s 2024 Cabinet reshuffle, his reappointment of previously dismissed ministers and his inclusion of opposition politicians in Cabinet. The bench also found that the National Assembly had met constitutional requirements for public participation when it vetted and approved Cabinet nominees. The gender composition claim was the only ground on which the petitioners succeeded.
The Cabinet gender rule appeal now moves to a Court of Appeal already burdened with a politically sensitive timeline. Should the appellate court decline to grant a stay, Ruto would need to identify at least two additional women for Cabinet roles within the 120 day window set by the High Court.
Political analysts cited by Nation Media Group have noted that any reshuffle to satisfy the ruling would likely require removing sitting male Cabinet Secretaries to create room for female appointees. Such a move could strain relations within the Kenya Kwanza coalition and among the opposition figures Ruto brought into government after his political truce with the late Raila Odinga.
The stakes attached to the Cabinet gender rule appeal extend beyond Cabinet arithmetic. Kenya’s Constitution has repeatedly proved difficult to enforce on gender representation, with previous advisories on the two-thirds rule stalling at the implementation stage. A ruling that survives appeal would mark one of the more concrete enforcement outcomes since the requirement was entrenched in 2010.
For now, the Cabinet gender rule appeal leaves President Ruto’s Cabinet in place while the Court of Appeal considers whether to grant Parliament’s request for a stay. A ruling on the stay application is expected to determine whether the 120 day countdown continues to run or is paused pending full determination of the appeal.
