‘Too late’, Speaker tells EACC on deputy governor debacle
Nairobi Metropolitan Services Director-General Mohamed Badi (left) congratulates Speaker Benson Mutura after he was sworn in as acting governor on December 21, 2020.
Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura has told off the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) over its bid to stop the appointment of deputy governor nominee Paul Mutungi.
Mr Mutura said the letter by EACC had been overtaken by events as he has already been vetted and approved by the county assembly. He questioned where EACC was when the advert for the nominee was done and calls for memoranda and objections made and even the sittings done in the full glare of publicity.
“We undertook public participation and advertised [for the post] but EACC never even bothered to respond. They only objected later when the assembly had cleared the nominee. If EACC had issues, they would have said so beforehand,” said Mr Mutura.
In the letter by EACC boss Twalib Mbarak dated November 29, four days after the vetting and approval of the City Hall chief of staff, the commission noted that the nominee was arraigned on corruption-related offenses, with the matter still pending in court.
The nominee, EACC further observed, was therefore not fit to hold public office, as stipulated in Chapter Six of the constitution.
Reverse process
The agency advised the assembly and Governor Ann Kananu to reconsider the nomination. However, Mr Mutura argued that there is no way the assembly will consider another nominee when they have already approved one.
“We have already done the approval of the county assembly as there is no way that we can reverse the process,” said the former Makadara MP. But asked why the assembly approved Mr Mutungi minus a clearance letter from EACC, the Speaker said that, even if Mr Mutungi had presented the document, it would not have changed anything.
“Even if the nominee was to present [the clearance letter], how certain would we be that he brought a genuine document? We have no such capacity to verify such documents,” he said.
Meanwhile, Justice Hedwig Ong’udi has extended the orders barring Mr Mutungi from being sworn in pending a ruling on January 26, 2022 on last month’s petition filed by activist Okiya Omtatah. The court also consolidated the petition together with others filed by Mr Peter Odhiambo, Mr George Bush and Mr Joseph Ndung’u.
Permanent injunction
The petitioners are seeking a permanent injunction against the swearing into office of Mr Mutungi as Nairobi’s deputy governor.
In his petition, Mr Omtatah argued that Mr Mutungi is ineligible to hold public office as he faces integrity issues with active criminal charges.
He added that the nomination, vetting and approval of the chief of staff is a nullity because it was done without clearance from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
Mr Omtatah’s arguments are the same ones advanced by the three other petitioners.
