A Nairobi court will today mention and give further directions in a case where a lawyer has challenged the government funding of a children’s lobby, Child Welfare Society of Kenya (CWSK).

Lawyer Bernard Odero has sued CWSK, the Labour and Social Protection Cabinet secretary, and the Attorney General.

He argues that the government should stop funding the organisation and that it should be barred from dealing with at least 10 properties.

Odero has asked the court to bar CWSK from dealing with properties in Kisumu, Nairobi, Lodwar and  Kiambu. He also lists four properties in Mombasa and Mavoko and two plots in Nakuru and Bungoma.

In the case filed before Justice Hedwig Ong’undi, Odero claims that the society is a private entity and therefore should not receive public funds.

“The first respondent is neither a public body nor a body regulated by the government or audited by the Auditor General as required by the Constitution for an entity or person receiving public funds,” claims Odero

According to the lawyer, CWSK, through its life member Boyi Mickey Otolo, filed a case in 2019 and clarified that the society is not a public entity.

The lawyer is of the view that the government had tried to convert the society into a government agency but Otolo challenged a notice published in 2014.

He asserts that CWSK is registered as a society and cannot benefit from taxpayers’ money.

He wants the government to be forced to recover all the money it has spent on society.

At the same time, he wants the properties he has listed in the case reverted to the government.