LSK woes: Havi wants petition challenging resolutions quashed

LSK President Nelson Havi has asked the court to dismiss a petition challenging the resolutions passed during their Special General meeting on January 18.

Havi told Justice Weldon Korir that Adrian Kamotho has not exhausted the alternative dispute resolution mechanism available under the LSK regulations.

"The petition filed by advocate Kamotho does not meet the threshold. He has not stated what rights have been denied or violated," he said.

But Kamotho told the court that Havi should have filed a formal application to suspend the proceedings in court rather than filing an objection.

He still urged the court to grant orders suspending the resolutions passed during g the meeting saying nothing stops it from doing so.

Korir will render his decision on February 3.

In this case, Kamotho is challenging a resolution that suspended the entire council of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) during a Special General Meeting.

 Kamotho said a significant number of those physically present at the meeting were not advocates but hired goons with a clear brief to gag any voice alternative to that of their master.  

LSK in a notice dated 18 December 2020 circulated to members, convened a special general meeting on January 18 this year.

Going by the notice, the meeting was to be conducted via Zoom Online platform and physically at the LSK offices along Gitanga Road, Nairobi.

The agenda of the meeting was also circulated in the said notice.

  A maximum of 300 members convened for the meeting physically at LSK Gitanga Road while the rest logged into the Zoom online platform.  

Kamotho in his papers said LSK has over 18,000 members. Five percent of 18,000 translates to 900 members.

 “It is therefore clear that even if the 300 members physically present for the meeting at Gitanga Road did not constitute the statutory quorum,” he said.  

Section 16 of the Law Society Act 2014, mandatorily sets the quorum of the general meeting to be at least five percent of all the members of the society.

The quorum of the said meeting according to Kamotho was never ascertained.

This he says questions the validity of the entire proceedings. 

 “Without credibly and validly registering a quorum the meeting held on 18 January this year remains a nonstarter,” he said.