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Case Note

Case Notes & Commentary
ODPC & High Court, Kenya
One ruling, digested on its own — the facts, the holding, and the practice point
[2026] KEHC 4814

Filing a petition four days after an ODPC complaint is forum shopping, not urgency

Otieno v University of Nairobi & 8 Others

Petition dismissed Case Note Data Protection · Administrative Law
By the Editorial Board, Muchangi Patrick & Co. Advocates

A university employee alleged his phone had been accessed and the information used to terminate his employment, in violation of Articles 28 and 31. He had lodged a complaint with the Data Protection Commissioner — and then filed a constitutional petition on largely the same facts just four days later, before the ODPC's own 90-day statutory investigation window under Section 56(5) had even begun to run. The Court dismissed the petition, holding that running parallel proceedings on the same complaint amounted to forum shopping and offended both the doctrine of exhaustion and constitutional avoidance.

Practice pointLodging an ODPC complaint and then filing a parallel constitutional petition before the ODPC has had a real opportunity to investigate is not a way to speed up relief — it is treated as forum shopping and risks losing both routes.
Cite this page: Muchangi Patrick & Co. Advocates, "Filing a petition four days after an ODPC complaint is forum shopping, not urgency: Otieno v University of Nairobi & 8 Others" (dataprivacyadvocates.co.ke, 2026) <https://dataprivacyadvocates.co.ke/case-otieno-v-university-of-nairobi-and-8-others.html>.
How this touches a live ODPC matter

Whether you are defending a complaint, appealing a determination, or bringing a privacy claim of your own, the forum you choose and the procedural record you build early usually decide the outcome.

Muchangi Patrick & Co. Advocates represents complainants and respondents before the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner and on appeal, judicial review and constitutional petition before the High Court.

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