Kenya lawyers question Jaoko's ouster

Kenyan lawyers have questioned the alleged removal of Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission chair Florence Jaoko from office.

The International Commission of Jurists-Kenya, Federation of Women Lawyers and Law Society of Kenya said they were not aware of any legal provisions that mandates the commissioners to remove the chair.

“We are concerned that the National Commission has purported to remove from office its own chairperson. The reasons for purported removal remain unclear to us,” the Fida executive director Grace Maingi Kimani said.

Ms Kimani, her ICJ counterpart George Kegoro, Njonjo Mue (ICJ council member) and Felistas Njoroge (ICJ vice-chairperson) said if the commission is to remain accountable “this major development must be backed by solid reasons".

The reasons must not only be agreed on internally among the commissioners but must also be explained to the public which has expectations on the Commission, the lawyers said.

They said since the new Constitution merged the Gender Commission and the National Commission any decision on the chair must involve both units.

Seven out of the eight commissioners of the human rights body have passed a vote of no confidence on Ms Jaoko, stripped her off all her powers and appointed a committee of three to run it.

Ms Jaoko, has, however scoffed at her ouster saying the commissioners have no mandate to do so and insisted that she is still the head of the organisation.

The new Constitution vests the expanded Commission with tremendous responsibility in the governance of the country and LSK, Fida and ICJ said it will need the goodwill of stakeholders if it is to discharge its responsibilities.

“We hope that the Commission recognises this fact and will therefore see the need to be accountable to us,” Ms Kimani said.

The lawyers also offered to mediate the internal problems in the Commission to overcome the challenges facing it.

They said the differences were not good at a time when the country is implementing the new Constitution.

The lawyers said it is important that the country remains focussed in implementation of the new constitution “and is not distracted by avoidable institutional problems in the governance institutions.”

The merging of the National Commission and that of Gender, they said enhances its responsibility and that it would now be required to “stand up in the gap between the government and the public and ensuring that the rights of the public are protected".

The Commission, an independent national human rights institution, core mandate is to further the protection and promotion of human rights in Kenya.

Its commissioners are: Ms Jaoko, Hassan Omar, Wambui Kimathi, Winfred Lichuma, Samuel Tororei, Fatuma Ibrahim, Mute, Fatuma Dullo, Anne Ngugi and Mohamed Hallo.

Only Mr Tororei supported Ms Jaoko when the commissioners voted against her.

Rows at the Commission started in May when the commissioners requested Ms Jaoko to step down saying they were not satisfied with her leadership.

They said the Commission’s profile since former chairman Maina Kiai left needed urgent intervention and its image rebuilt.

Further, they doubted if Ms Jaoko would be up to the task in implementing the new Constitution.

Ms Jaoko’s position is elective and argues that she had not been treated fairly by the commissioners.

The commissioners later instituted a formal process by asking Ms Jaoko not to swear in as chairperson when they took a fresh oath of office following the promulgation of the new Constitution.

Ms Jaoko, however, went ahead and swore as chairperson blocking efforts to replace her.

Previously, the commissioners were divided over alleged leakage of vital witness protection information by one of them.

Initially the wrangles had also pitted the then Commission’s vice chair, Mr Omar against Ms Jaoko.

The two were elected on July 5, 2008. Ms Jaoko was elected to replace Mr Kiai whose term ended on July 29, 2008.

The rivalry of the two escalated the boardroom wars within the rights watchdog.

Documents that the Daily Nation saw as well as interviews with former staff members indicated that a section of the commission led by Ms Jaoko was pushing for disciplinary measures against Mr Omar for being vocal and constantly giving statements to the press without the chairperson’s knowledge.

According to a former employee, tensions has been building within the commission since July last year, when the Commission released a list of 219 suspects linked to the 2008 post election violence where 1,133 people were killed and 650,000 displaced.