Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga. [PHOTO/nation.co.ke]
Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has attacked Health CS Cleaopa Mailu over the recent ban of shisha in the city.
Mutunga questioned Mailu's banning of the importation, manufacture, promotion, and sale of the product.
But through a tweet, Mutunga says that the CS does not have legal backgrounds for such an undertaking.
He accused the CS of not doing his research with legal experts before coming up with such a policy.
Mutunga said that the ban was therefore illegal and an extension of dictatorship.
“The chances are that the CS has not consulted the AG on his constitutional and legal powers to announce such a ban. For a person who doesn’t believe that the right to health is a public good this ban smirks of hypocrisy and dictatorship,” Mutunga said.
On Friday, shisha users and sellers went to court seeking to stop the ban until the case is heard and determined.
The High Court however threw out the application saying that the petitioners should instead sue Attorney General Githu Muigai and the CS.
The biggest losers in the ban are Nairobi club owners whose shisha business has been booming over time, with some said to get monthly profits of over Sh3 million.