High Court keeps Meja PSC chair petition alive after strike-out bid fails

The High Court has refused to abort a constitutional challenge to Public Service Commission chairperson Francis Meja at the preliminary stage, dismissing his bid to strike out the petition and clearing the case for a merits hearing, Eastleigh Voice reported from the judgment of Justice Gregory Mutai.

Meja had asked the court to throw out the petition filed by Dr Magare Gikenyi Benjamin and Eliud Matindi, arguing that the issues were already settled under the doctrine of res judicata. His case rested on earlier litigation about Article 250(6)(a) of the Constitution, which caps the tenure of members of constitutional commissions. In a ruling delivered on 31 July 2026, Justice Mutai rejected that shortcut.

Why res judicata did not end the fight

The judge held that res judicata demands identity of the matter directly and substantially in issue — not merely that two suits quote the same constitutional clause. Two disputes can both turn on the proper reading of Article 250(6)(a) without being the same case for preclusion purposes, the court said, according to the report.

Earlier petitions, Mutai found, concerned appointments from one constitutional commission to another. The live petition, by contrast, asks whether a serving commissioner can be appointed to another office — such as chairperson — within the same commission if that move would push service beyond the constitutional six-year limit. That intra-commission controversy, he held, was not directly and substantially in issue in the prior suits and is therefore a fresh dispute.

Meja’s fallback on constructive res judicata also failed. The court said constructive res judicata only bars points that could have been raised when the earlier suit was live; it does not freeze a new controversy that arose later. Justice Mutai further ruled the petition is neither frivolous nor an abuse of process, because it poses a genuine constitutional question about commission integrity and the six-year ceiling.

What happens next

The application dated 23 March 2026 was dismissed, with each party ordered to bear its own costs. The constitutional challenge therefore proceeds on the merits: whether Meja’s path into the chair breached Article 250(6)(a). National desk: Kenya News. Verified: Mutai strike-out dismissal, petitioners named, intra- vs inter-commission distinction, 31 July ruling, 23 March application, costs order. Full pleadings, any appeal notice and the eventual merits judgment will control the final legal outcome for the PSC leadership.

Public-service watchers will treat the ruling as a process win for the petitioners, not a finding that Meja’s appointment is invalid. Strike-out refusals only decide whether a case is allowed to breathe; they do not score the constitutional merits. Commission members, the Executive and Parliament will watch the full hearing for how courts police internal elevation within commissions that already sit near tenure edges.

Based on Eastleigh Voice reporting of Justice Gregory Mutai’s ruling. Court documents control legal wording; parties may appeal interlocutory orders.