Two activists have moved to court seeking to stop the construction of the JKIA-Westlands Expressway launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta late last year.
Henry Shitanda and Rhoda Aoko say the multi-billion-shilling project is shrouded in secrecy as there was no public participation.
They have sued the Kenya National Highways Authority and the Attorney General at the Milimani Law Courts.
They want the construction of the expressway suspended until the people of Kenya are involved through public participation.
The duo claims that on October 16, last year, the President in conjunction with KeNHA presided over the launch of the construction of the expressway, "to our and other Kenyans' shock".
They say the design, negotiations, structures and planning were done secretly and opaquely in disregard of the public and those who will be affected directly by the construction.
“No such notices and dissemination of information relating to the said project were ever made to the public or the applicants,” they argue.
It is also their argument that the project is founded on illegality and that it contravenes the fundamental principles and national values of the Constitution, transparency, openness, involvement of the people and public participation.
Shitanda further says that KeNHA had ignored their letter of November 21, 2019, seeking to know whether there had been public participation.
“It is therefore fundamentally important for this court to intervene at this very stage of the project to secure the usage and expenditure of public resources and to uphold the constitutional values and principles,” the petitioners say in court documents.
They cite some of the properties to be affected as NextGen Mall, Khalsa Primary School, sections of the Railways Club and a plot for Persons with Disabilities in Westlands.
