MPs plan to censure Saitoti and civil service boss

Security Minister George Saitoti (left) and Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura (right). PHOTOS/FILE

What you need to know:

  • Judge also targeted for halting gazetting of poll areas but the move is termed as cheap politics

Parliament’s resolve to have the 80 new constituencies gazetted went a notch higher on Thursday when MPs filed two motions to censure two top government officials and a judge over the controversy.

ODM MPs Isaac Ruto (Chepalungu) and Benedict Gunda (Bahari) announced at a news conference on Thursday night that they had filed the motions to censure Security Minister George Saitoti, the Head of Civil Service, Mr Francis Muthaura and High Court judge Jean Gacheche.

The MPs want Prof Saitoti and Mr Muthaura to quit and allow the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the circumstances under which the Government Printer defied orders from the Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission to publish its report in the Kenya Gazette.

The MPs accused the government printer of “interfering with and undermining the independence, authority and (constitutional) mandate” of the IIBRC.

They said Prof Saitoti and Mr Muthaura had “failed to ensure compliance with the Constitution”.

In a quick rejoinder, assistant minister Kambi Kazungu and MP John Mututho (Naivasha, Kanu) said their colleagues were personalising the matter and described the censure plan as cheap politics.

Mr Kazungu said that censuring Mr Muthaura and Prof Saitoti was akin to condemning the whole government, yet “I am part of that government and I am advising it to gazette the results.”

“What if the day when it was given, the machine had broken down?” asked Mr Mututho.

Mr Kazungu said he was among the first to sign the petition as he supported the splitting of Kaloleni.

Mr Mututho termed the two motions as “pure rubbish and ridiculous” and tore copies of the motion right before the cameras before storming out of the Media Centre.

In his motion, Mr Ruto also wants the anti-corruption agency to establish whether there is evidence for the violation of the constitution, abuse and misconduct or corrupt practices.

Justice Gacheche is accused of “blatant contravention and subversion of the Constitution and flagrant disregard for relevant statutes and constitutional rights of Kenyans.”

“This House censures Justice Jean Gacheche and resolves that she’s unfit to hold judicial office and demands her immediate resignation or the appointing authority sets up a tribunal to inquire into her fitness to hold a judicial office with immediate effect,” reads Mr Gunda’s motion.

This new development comes as 150 MPs signed a petition demanding that Mr Ligale’s report be gazetted.

Mr Gunda said that even Justice Gacheche’s withdrawal from the case won’t “save her” from Parliament’s censure.

Mr Olago Aluoch (Kisumu Town West, ODM) claimed the judge ignored a “very basic principle in law, that you can’t issue orders against the government.”

“To censure a sitting judge of the High Court is no mean task. But we are guided that judicial customs demand that before a judge deals with such important matters, no matter should be heard ex parte,” said Mr Olago.

He said the fact that the judge gave the hearing date as December 2, and that she knew too well that the IIBRC’s life expires on November 27 was evidence enough to censure her. The government printer, the MPs said, acted on a court order “in retrospect”.

“There is a deliberate attempt to scuttle the rights of Kenyans to have a new Constitution. We made the bed, we just have no option but to sleep on it,” Mr Ruto said.

The two motions are awaiting the approval by House Speaker Kenneth Marende.