The High Court has dismissed a petition seeking to declare President William Ruto’s Taskforce on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide unconstitutional, affirming that the Head of State acted within his powers when he set up the body.
Justice Patricia Gichohi, sitting in Nakuru, ruled that the President has broad discretion under Articles 129 and 21(3) of the Constitution to establish ad hoc taskforces to advise him on pressing national issues, including the surge in femicide and gender-based violence cases that has gripped the country in recent years.
The petition had been filed by a group led by one Magare-Gikenyi B, who argued that the taskforce duplicated functions already assigned to the National Gender and Equality Commission and amounted to a wasteful use of public resources. The petitioners also raised questions about the integrity of the taskforce’s leadership.
In her ruling, Justice Gichohi found that the taskforce was purely advisory in nature, constituted to guide the President in line with its terms of reference but without any decision-making authority of its own. She noted that concerns raised over the taskforce chairperson’s conduct had been overtaken by events after the official voluntarily stepped aside before any disciplinary process against her could be concluded, and that this did not taint the legality of the taskforce’s formation.
The taskforce was established through an executive order and a gazette notice issued in January 2025, with its mandate later extended through a further gazette notice in March 2025. It was formed against the backdrop of growing public outrage over a wave of killings of women, which had sparked protests and renewed demands for the state to treat femicide as a national emergency.
Friday’s ruling is expected to allow the taskforce to continue its work of gathering evidence, engaging stakeholders and drafting recommendations on how the country can better prevent and respond to gender-based violence. Activists who have long pushed for stronger state action on femicide are likely to welcome the decision, even as questions persist over how quickly its eventual recommendations will be implemented.