High Court orders Parliament to disclose cost of National Prayer Breakfast

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:01]Still within the corridors of justice, the High Court in Nairobi has ordered Parliament to disclose how much it spends on the national prayer breakfast.

[00:00:10]High Court judge, Justice Gregory Mutai, in a case filed by lawyer Lempaa Suyianka, ruled that Parliament must comply with the constitutional dictate of right to information. Jeff Koinange with the story.

[00:00:25]As the bicameral Parliament gears to host the 23rd national prayer breakfast on Thursday this week, >> [music] >> the High Court has directed the August House to provide information on the cost of hosting the event within 30 days in a format that is accessible to laymen. The respondents have not shown why it would be necessary to withhold such information or to provide it or why they would not want to provide it in a manner that it is accessible to lay Kenyans.

[00:01:00]without accounting knowledge. In a case filed by lawyer Lempaa Suyianka, Justice Gregory Mutai said that it is against the right to information for the August House to wave secrecy while spending taxpayers' money for the event. It is clear as submitted by the petitioner that the Constitution of Kenya 2010 is a transformative compact.

[00:01:22]The provisions that aid Kenyans in accessing information, information that helps them to hold the leaders accountable. The judge, however, declined to declare the annual event as unconstitutional after finding that it was not properly pleaded for in the case. Justice Mutai observed that although the issue of establishing a state religion raised by the lawyer was important, it needed to be pursued separately in a fresh case. It is my view that submissions are not pleadings.

[00:01:52]And this has been stated by courts in a plethora of decisions.

[00:01:59]I must [clears throat] say that I'm required to determine issues that are pleaded by the parties.

[00:02:04]And not to determine those that the petitioner wants to have pleaded.

[00:02:09]It was open for the petitioner at all times before judgment to apply to make entries and pleadings.

[00:02:16]The National Prayer Breakfast, which was established in 2003, was intended to foster national reconciliation, transcending political and ethnic divide, and promoting ethical value-based leadership. However, the current political environment appears not to favor a sitting of the government and the opposition as critics of government say they will not attend. But we also find it difficult to to pay to play pretense.

[00:02:42]To end it to come here and about although that condition is there, but there's so much hypocrisy.

[00:02:50]Geoffrey Kirui KTN.

[00:02:54]Now, the government