The Court of Appeal has temporarily suspended a High Court decision barring the implementation of the health cooperation framework between Kenya and the United States.
A three-judge bench has given the deal a greenlight as the government through The Attorney General proceeds to appeal the high court decision.
Justices Luka Kimaru, Munyao Sila and Dr Johnson Okello in their ruling sided with the government’s argument that continued suspension of the deal will gravely impact patients with HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria who were set to benefit from the deal valued at over Ksh. 200 billion.
“If you balance the arguments of the 1st and 4th respondents (Omtatah and Katiba Institute), and balance that with the health concerns of the citizens who will benefit under the Framework and whose health will be adversely and negatively affected, we are of the considered view that public interest favours the implementation of the programme pending hearing of the appeal,” the court stated.
The judges warned that public interest outweighed the concerns raised by Sen. Omtata and Katiba institute as suspension could have irreparable damage to affected patients.
The judges further added that the High Court did not declare the deal unconstitutional but only suspended its implementation pending determination of whether it is inline with Kenya’s constitution.
The petitioners (Omtatah and Kaba Institute) in their submissions before court said the deal raised concerns relating to data protection, public finance, devolution and Parliament’s oversight of international agreements.
The dela that was proposed by the United States following the restructuring of foreign aid under the U.S. administration triggered widespread pushback across Kenya and other African countries over data sovereignty, privacy risks, and conditions tied to sensitive medical and biological information.
Various African Countries including Namibia, Zambia and Ghana walked away from the deliver concerns that the US required them to share sensitive citizens health data.
