In a ruling delivered on Friday, August 15, the High court at Milimani Law Courts, presided over by Justice Bahati Mwamuye, has placed a temporary injunction on the government’s plan to sell its stake in the Kenyan Pipeline Company(KPC).

The court’s conservatory order came in response to the Consumers Federation of Kenya(COFEK). The order restrains the government and any interested parties from “offering for sale, allocating, disposing, transferring,or otherwise dealing with any shares of KPC under theimpugned privatization plan”

The government now has plans until August 22,2025 to file its response and COFEK must submit a rejoinder by August 29,2025.The full petition is set for hearing on September 5,2025 in an open court at 10:00am.

The September 5 hearing is expected to determine whether the freeze on the planned privatisation will stand as the constitutional petition proceeds.

This court intervention follows the cabinet’s approval of the privatization plan back on July 29, 2025, and President William Ruto’s announcement that KPC will be listed on the Nairobi securities exchange by year-end.

Despite this, the court’s ruling will pause further progress until legal determinations are concluded.

In the petition filed on Thursday, August 14, COFEK argued that the proposed sale, projected to raise KSh 100 billion through a public listing, could undermine national interests if rushed without sufficient public consultation and parliamentary oversight.

The High Court’s orders now bar the National Treasury, the Privatisation Authority, and other agencies from advancing the IPO or transferring any KPC shares until the matter is resolved.

The ruling throws a wrench into the government’s fiscal strategy, which had counted on privatisation proceeds to plug budget deficits.