By Mercy Imali
Okiya Omtatah’s case challenging new currency notes has been referred to the Chief Justice to set up a bench to hear the matter. Justice Weldon Korir says issues raised are weighty.
Omtatah wants the court to bar Central Bank of Kenya(CBK) from circulating the new generation banknotes. The activist argues that the CBK did not involve the public in the printing and unveiling of the new notes.
He also says the portrait of the first president of Kenya on the notes contravenes the Constitution. Each new generation Kenyan banknote bears a prominently displayed statue of the late President Jomo Kenyatta at KICC.
However, CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge insists that the design and introduction of new banknotes followed due process and that they are ready to fight those opposed to it in court.
Njoroge dismissed those contesting the inclusion of the country’s founding president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s sculpture, saying that the key feature was the KICC.