Petition Seeks Disclosure of Public Funds Spent on National Prayer Breakfast

By : Mweru Mbugua 

A Nairobi-based lawyer has moved to the High Court seeking to compel Parliament and related offices to disclose how much public money was spent on the 2025 National Prayer Breakfast and to block the use of public funds for the 2026 event

In a constitutional petition filed before the Constitutional and Human Rights Division in Nairobi, advocate Lempaa Suyianka has sued the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), the National Assembly, the Senate, the Attorney General, and the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ)

Suyianka argues that the respondents violated his constitutional right of access to information under Article 35 of the Constitution by refusing or failing to disclose details of public expenditure related to the National Prayer Breakfast

According to court papers, the petitioner made a formal Freedom of Information request on March 13, 2025, to the Clerk of the National Assembly seeking expenditure details for the 2025 event. After the request was declined, he wrote follow-up letters in June 2025 to the clerks of both the National Assembly and the Senate

The petition states that in July 2025, the Commission on Administrative Justice intervened by writing to the two clerks and urging them to provide the requested information. Despite this, Suyianka says he was advised to seek the information from the Parliamentary Service Commission

In October 2025, the PSC informed him that the National Prayer Breakfast was included in its annual estimates of expenditure tabled in Parliament under Article 221 of the Constitution, but did not disclose the actual amount spent on the 2025 event

Suyianka contends that the continued refusal to provide the information violates Articles 35(1)(a) and 35(3) of the Constitution and undermines national values of transparency and accountability under Article 10

He further argues that Parliament’s involvement in organising the National Prayer Breakfast breaches the doctrine of separation of powers, and that the use of public funds for the event amounts to imprudent expenditure in violation of Article 201 of the Constitution

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The petitioner has also accused the Commission on Administrative Justice of failing to enforce its constitutional and statutory mandate to compel disclosure of the information

Among the orders sought are declarations that the respondents violated the Constitution, directives compelling disclosure of the expenditure details, and an order restraining the use of public funds for the 2026 National Prayer Breakfast

However, High Court Judge Bahati Mwamuye declined to issue interim orders, directing instead that the matter proceed to a full hearing on its merits