I won’t quit, says Wako

Attorney-General Amos Wako has defended his record, saying his conscience was clear and that he would not step down after a UN official called for his resignation.

“My conscience tells me I have done what I ought to have done as the attorney-general and this means I have prosecuted those cases that have come before my desk with sufficient evidence to prosecute,” he said.

Last Wednesday, the UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, Prof Philip Alston, accused Mr Wako of presiding over a system that was bankrupt of ideas in dealing with police killings and that he had done nothing to ensure that the system was reformed.

After Prof Alston released his report on police killings, a number of politicians and civil society organisations demanded that Mr Wako and police commissioner Hussein Ali should resign.

On Monday, Mr Wako said there was no offence he had committed to warrant his resignation.

“In my case I am accused of lack of prosecution, which is really not an offence as such,” he said.

He said he had never failed to act on cases which had sufficient evidence brought to him by the investigators, who are the police.

The AG said he had no ministerial responsibilities over the police and, therefore, the claims of killings by the force did not fall under his realm.

Responsibility

“In as much as the allegations of these killings made against the police, the Attorney-General does not have ministerial responsibility over the police. They don’t come under my portfolio whatsoever,” he added.

Calls for Mr Wako to resign climaxed on Sunday, when former attorney-general and Constitutional Affairs minister Charles Njonjo told him and Mr Ali to resign following the damning report.

Mr Njonjo said if he were the AG and police commissioner he would have resigned.