High Court Dismisses Luo Community’s Sovereign State Lawsuit
The lawsuit brought by Ojijo Mark Pascal, which aimed to grant the Luo community the right to establish their own sovereign state and manage their affairs, has been dismissed by the High Court. Justice Lawrence Mugambi stated that the lawsuit was improperly filed.
He mentioned that Ojijo must adhere to the prescribed processes for submitting constitutional petitions as outlined in the Constitution.
“I have read the notice of motion together with the certificate of urgency and note this suit is commenced by way of a Plaint rather than a constitutional Petition and is therefore struck out forthwith,” said Mugambi.
Ojijo, asserting to be the spokesperson for around 10,000 individuals from the Luo community, requested the Milimani Law Courts to mandate the government to organize a referendum. The purpose of this referendum would be to enable the Luos to establish their own separate state.
He declares his identity as both a candidate running for president and as a member of the Luo ethnic group. In his documents, he has expressed the viewpoint that secession should not be considered illegal in Kenya. He also emphasizes that it’s the right time for the Luo community to take control of their own path as a group that values the concept of transformation.
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He claims that the government has consistently employed excessive force against Luo individuals during protests.
Ojijo additionally claims that biased methods have been utilized in allocating resources, unfairly disadvantaging individuals from the Luo community.
“My constitutional right to political, social, cultural, and economic development has been restricted by the state. The State has also used the law and media to paint Luo’s as evil, against development, and violent,” he said.
“Unless the matter is addressed urgently, the ethnic profiling, discrimination, lack of development and harassment shall continue and these shall prejudice, harm, and limit his right to self-determination.”
In his legal documents, Ojijio sought a court order to prevent the state from interfering with his pursuit of self-determination endeavors.
He stated that the principle of self-determination grants the Luos the authority to establish freedom-seeking groups, rooted in the fundamental idea that communities possess the right to self-governance.
High Court Dismisses Luo Community’s Sovereign State Lawsuit
