The High Court has blocked the government's bid to abolish the export restriction on raw macadamia.

The move was made in response to a lawsuit by businessman Joseph Ndungu to contest the Ministry of Agriculture's decision to abolish the export restriction on in-shell macadamia nuts.

The petitioner argued that the Ministry of Agriculture's alleged decision was made without proper authority, in violation of the law, and should be rejected by the court.

Ndungu claims that the ministry went ahead and gave Nicemart traders, general suppliers, and nine other nut dealers exclusive rights and mandates to export raw macadamia without consulting or obtaining the input of more than 41 industry dealers, processors, farmers, and stakeholders in the macadamia sector.


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He asserts that the Agriculture Minister's choice is against the Constitution's public participation provisions, which place a strong focus on farmer involvement in the formulation of significant decisions and policies impacting Kenya's agricultural sector.

"The decision to grant exclusive export rights without any justifiable competitive selection criteria encourages discriminatory practices that, in turn, discriminate against other legitimate macadamia dealers and processors who are duly licensed to deal with macadamia nuts and who are not given an equal chance and opportunity," reads legal documents