Ruth Achitsa Kisiah

Currently in the Dispute Resolution department, Achitsa is a goal oriented advocate with proven commercial and public administrative law expertise, legislative drafting, policy analysis and legal advisory and compliance skills. She has 4 years demonstrable professional experience aggregated through working with both state and non-state actors in Kenya. She also works at the intersection of corporate strategy and implementation with the capacity to generate new ideas, develop long term objectives and strategies that align with institutional priorities and translate them into actionable plans.

Achitsa holds a Bachelors Degree of Laws from the University of Nairobi having graduated in the year 2019. She holds a Post Graduate Diploma from the Kenya School of Law and has completed a certification course on Public Private Partnerships issued by Strathmore University. Achitsa bears considerable expertise in corporate governance and is currently undertaking her Certified Secretaries Course by KASNEB.

Experience
Part of the legal team that represented the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission in the 2022 Presidential Election Petition and in the Building Bridges Initiative Petition both filed in the Supreme Court of Kenya.

Acted in a constitutional petition in which the question for determination before the Court was with respect to the participation of persons with disabilities in the electoral system in Kenya and the interventions necessary to guarantee their participation.

Acted in a constitutional petition in which various actors sought to bar the implementation of the constitutional principle that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender. This was a highly contested matter in which the IEBC had issued a directive to political parties to comply with the rule recognizing that they play an important role in narrowing the gender under representation gap within their internal nomination processes, which could help achieve the two-third gender representation.

Acted in a constitutional petition in which various individuals sought to compel the IEBC to extend the exercise of continuous mass voter registration in a bid to enhance political rights, and in particular the right to vote and participate in the electoral process.

Part of the team currently representing the Office of the Attorney General in the novel matter challenging the Cabinet decision to introduce genetically modified foods and organisms derived from such technological mechanisms and the activities arising thereto to wit; conducting performance trials, propagation of seeds and their open cultivation, the deliberate release to the environment and placing on the market of foods and products developed through genetically modified technologies and labelling of products derived from genetically modifying technologies, processes and/or methods.

Part of the team currently representing the Office of the Attorney General at the East African Court of Justice in the matter challenging Kenya’s decision to re-introduce genetically modified foods and organisms derived from such technological mechanisms and the activities arising thereto.

Part of the legal team that represented a multinational company in a claim involving unfair and unsubstantiated comparative advertising by a competitor in the market. This was a novel matter before the High Court of Kenya touching on competition law, comparative advertising, brand disparagement and consumer protection.

Advised and represented a petroleum industry operator in relation to disputes concerning possession of strategic business premises in Nairobi where various licensees had sought injunctive orders against the surrender of possession of the premises.

Part of the team representing various financial institutions in a claim filed at the Supreme Court of Kenya where squatters claim proprietorship of various suit properties whose acreage is approximately 2500 and in which the institutions issued loan facilities to various innocent purchasers for value relying on the conclusiveness of the title based on the Land register.

Advised a mobile and tele-communications company on the feasibility of investing in Kenya through a public private partnership, the minimum contractual obligations in a PPP arrangement and the summary of the PPP project cycle in Kenya.

Analysed the Pharmacy and Poisons Act against the WHO Global Benchmarking Tool for Evaluation of National Regulatory Systems of Medical Products and consequently developed various Rules to enable effective implementation of the Pharmacy and Poisons Act to comply with global best practices. These Rules are as follows: Pharmaceutical waste management rules; Transportation of pharmaceutical rules; Pharmacy and Poisons (Pharmacovigilance and post-marketing surveillance system) rules; Registration of health products and technologies; and Pharmacy and Poisons Rules.

Analysed an Independent Commission’s on its procedures and lapses in its complaints and disciplinary processes and advised on areas of improvement and specific interventions whether administrative or legal. Offered technical support and guidance in ongoing reforms on the Commission’s Human Resources Policies and Procedures Manual.