BY NT CORRESPONDENT.
Despite assurances by the Judiciary to support the war against corruption, the High Court today has stopped the vetting of all heads of procurement and accounting.
The fresh vetting was meant to weed out corrupt heads of procurement, a response to the siphoning of almost Sh10 billion NYS cash.
High Court temporarily stopped the government from implementing President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive and subsequent action by the head of public service Joseph Kinyua asking all this heads to vacate office till they are vetted.
Activist Okiya Omtatah moved to court to challenge the circular saying that it was created subjectively though an irregular and opaque process that did not involve public participation and violated the constitution.
High court Judge Onesmus Makau while issuing the orders certified the matter as urgent and directed that the petition be served upon the respondents in the case who include head of public service commission Joseph Kinyua and the AG.
According to Omtatah the government circular has created extreme anxiety in the public service as it purports to terminate the services of heads of procurement and accounting units in Government ministries , departments and agencies including state corporations and independent offices commissioned by sending them on compulsory leave for 30 working days.
Omtata claims that the circular issued on 4th of this month by Kinyua to achieve the collateral purpose of hyping the ongoing staged war on corruption and looking for scapegoats.
There are many great & conscientious judges in our judiciary, I’m sure they’ll soon rise to the occasion & explain to the country what unique & extraordinary arguments the layman Omtata advances in order to secure more ex-parte orders than any Senior Counsel ever has in Kenya.
— Nzioka Waita (@NziokaWaita) June 6, 2018
He argues that public officers are protected by the constitution and legislations and due process must be followed when taking disciplinary action.
“It is totally unreasonable and unprocedural unfair for the public officers who have personally not been accused of any wrong doing to be punished,” he says.
The circular, he says constitutes a gross attack on article 25(c) of the constitution which declares that the rights to a fair trial may not be limited.
It remains curious as to how the same person can secure so many ex-parte orders in the court of first instance. I dare say, if it looks like a duck , if it walks like a duck… then it is a duck.
— Nzioka Waita (@NziokaWaita) June 6, 2018
He is aggrieved that the blanket disciplinary measure is being imposed on a class of people without holding each one accountable for specific claims as an individual and without consideration for its impact on the general population and the public service.
He says that Joseph kinyua is not a regulation making authority under the law and therefore has absolutely no capacity to issue any directive.
In the case Omtatah wants the court to quash the circular adding that the Government has no capacity to issue such orders.
