The High Court has struck down key provisions of the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act, opening the way for former presidents to hold political party office while shielding their retirement benefits from adverse changes.
Justice Bahati Mwamuye declared Sections 4(1), 4(2) and 4(3), which allowed retirement benefits to be withheld, reduced or withdrawn in specified circumstances, unconstitutional, null and void. Section 6, which restricted a retired president’s political party role, was also invalidated in its entirety.
The decision gives former President Uhuru Kenyatta a legal reprieve as he remains involved in the leadership of Jubilee Party. The case followed a May 4, 2026 parliamentary motion seeking to review his retirement benefits over his continued political role.
At the heart of the dispute was the constitutional protection of a former president’s benefits. Article 151(3) provides that retirement benefits, facilities and privileges enjoyed by a former president cannot be varied to their disadvantage during their lifetime.
Justice Mwamuye also rejected the idea that leaving State House should mean leaving politics.
“The office of President is held for a constitutionally defined period. Upon cessation of office, the former President ceases to exercise the coercive and executive authority of the State. The person thereafter stands in a fundamentally different constitutional position: he or she is a private citizen, albeit one who has previously occupied the highest elective office in the Republic,” the judge said.
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The court issued prohibition orders preventing the respondents from relying on the invalidated parts of Section 4 to “withhold, reduce, withdraw, extinguish or otherwise disadvantageously vary” protected retirement benefits.
It similarly prohibited enforcement of Section 6.
The court did not bar Parliament from debating the issue. It said MPs remain free to legislate within the limits of the Constitution, adding that it would not interfere with Parliament’s proceedings.
It also declined to overturn the matter, saying the May 4 motion had not led to a final parliamentary decision.
The ruling comes days after another High Court decision upheld Section 6, finding that the restriction on retired presidents holding political party office was a reasonable limitation of their rights.
Justice Mwamuye’s decision therefore marks a direct departure from that earlier finding, while drawing a sharper constitutional line around the rights and benefits of former heads of State.
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