Arc of executive overreach bends towards anarchy
Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho.
What you need to know:
- Mr Kibicho was sentenced to six months in jail for disobeying orders while in in the Foreign Affairs docket.
- At the time, Mr Kibicho claimed the orders “were not in tandem with the law”.
The family of Nyeri businesswoman Bilhar Wangui Maina waited 21 years for the courts to award them Sh349,000 as compensation for a car accident involving a government vehicle that injured their matriarch.
After the High Court issued the award in 2013, the government still took its time to pay until Ms Maina’s son, Wilson, successfully sought to have the five responsible principal secretaries found guilty of contempt.
They were John Mosonik (Infrastructure), Wilson Nyakera Irungu (Transport), Mariamu El Maawy (Lands), Aidah Munano (Housing and Urban Development) and Paul Maringa Mwangi (Public Works).
Ms Maina’s case is just one of many where the Executive has ignored court orders, a move that has catalysed its war with the Judiciary.
When officers bundled Raila Odinga’s former adviser Miguna Miguna into a Dubai-bound plane for deportation, Justice George Odunga found Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and then police boss Joseph Boinnet in contempt.
Fined
They were fined Sh200,000 each. They initially challenged the March, 2018 ruling but withdrew their Court of Appeal case eight months later.
Since 2013, State bureaucrats have earned notoriety for disobeying orders from the courts and Parliament.
There are at least 200 cases where government officials have violated court orders, Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Nelson Havi said Tuesday.
The Interior ministry has tens of arrest warrants against its PS Karanja Kibicho. In the last five years, there have been at least three warrants against him. He has also been sentenced to six months in jail for contempt of court, and summoned numerous times.
"The PS told chiefs and the police never to respect court orders because the Judiciary has refused to assist the ministry in eradicating illicit brews," lawyer Ashford Riungu said while arguing a contempt of court application against Mr Kibicho in 2016.
Bar raid order
At the time, the PS had ordered security officers in Chuka to raid a bar and confiscate alcoholic drinks despite a court order that had barred the move.
While serving in the Foreign Affairs docket, Mr Kibicho was sentenced to six months in jail for disobeying orders in an employment row with a staff member who had been accused of graft.
At the time, Mr Kibicho claimed the orders “were not in tandem with the law” and accused the Judiciary of undermining the Executive.
Former Defence PS Saitoti Toroome, Agriculture’s Richard Lesiyampe, ex-police boss Boinnet, Dr Matiang’i and former Immigration Department Director-General Gordon Kihalangwa have all been found in contempt of court in the last five years.
The Executive’s intransigence extends to the National Assembly and the Senate, where CSs, PSs and parastatal heads have been ignoring summonses.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, it was common for committees of the National Assembly to cancel scheduled meetings because respective CSs were unavailable. State departments notorious for ignoring summonses include Interior, Health, Energy, Transport, Public Works and Housing.
Covid-19 expenditure
Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, for instance, was forced to appear before the Health Committee of the National Assembly on Tuesday to explain the expenditure of billions meant for Covid-19 interventions after threats of summons. Earlier this year, National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi warned CSs, heads of parastatals, independent offices and constitutional commissions that Parliament may recommend their removal from office.
This came as MPs sought to assert their oversight, legislative and representation roles over the other two arms of government.
“We are going to take action. Do not pamper anybody. Committee chairmen must begin to flex their muscles,” Mr Muturi said.
“Whenever a CS fails to honour summons to appear before a committee, just notify my office through reports so that I can take action,” he added.
Committee chairpersons had said they were facing difficulties concluding petitions or having members’ questions responded to because of the behaviour of CSs and other senior officials. According to Standing Orders, petitions must be concluded within 60 days.
