Panel forwards DPP nominees to President Kenyatta
Dr. Elizabeth Muli, the chairperson of the selection panel for the DPP position, speaks to journalists at Commission House in Nairobi on March 8, 2018. The panel has forwarded three names to the President. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Twenty-seven candidates applied for the position of DPP, 10 were shortlisted.
- The 10 were interviewed on Thursday and Friday and three names were selected.
- The President will now select one name and forward it to the National Assembly for vetting.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has received names of three candidates nominated for the position of Director of Public Prosecutions.
The DPP selection panel forwarded the three names shortly after 5.30pm on Friday after it graded performances of each of the 10 candidates it interviewed for the position.
NOMINEES
The interviews were conducted on Thursday and Friday.
Panel chairperson Dr Elizabeth Muli confirmed on phone that her team concluded its mandate and forward the three nominees to the President.
“We finalised our work and forwarded the three nominees to His Excellency the President. We sincerely thank all the candidates who showed their candidature and the panel never took them for granted,” said Dr Muli.
She, however, declined to reveal the names of the three nominees and referred the Nation to the office of the President.
“It is not within our mandate to make public the three nominees and we hope the President will reveal the names through his communication person,” said the University of Nairobi law scholar.
SELECTION
President Kenyatta set up the selection panel on February 3. The team then advertised for the DPP position on February 13 and published 27 names of applicants and 10 shortlisted ones on March 2.
The candidates interviewed include five from the DDP’s office, two from the Judiciary, one from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and one senior counsel.
The selection panel stated that it considered regional balance, ethnic diversity and gender balance in shortlisting applicants.
Machakos court senior principal magistrate Abdulkadir Ramadhan was the last to be interviewed on Friday after Deputy DPP Nicholas Mutuku, Senior DPP Patrick Magero Gumo and Deputy DPP Jacob Nyakundi Ondari.
On Thursday, the panel interviewed Supreme Court Deputy Registrar Daniel ole Keiwua, former IEBC commissioner Thomas, Senior Assistant DPP James Mungai Warui, NIS Deputy Director Noordin Haji, Senior Counsel Lucy Kambuni and Deputy DPP Ms Dorcas Oduor.
NEXT STEP
The President is now expected to choose one person out of the three nominees and forward the name to the National Assembly for vetting.
After the vetting, should the MPs approve the nominee, the President has 14 days to appoint the new DPP to succeed Environment Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko.
Should the National Assembly reject the nominee for the DPP position, the panel will start afresh the recruitment process –advertising, shortlisting and interviewing.
The seven-member panel consists of Mr Kennedy Kihara (Office of the President), Ms Maryann Njau (Attorney-General’s office) and Ms Lilian Omollo (Public Service ministry).
Others are Ms Kagwiria Mbogori (Kenya National Commission on Human Rights), Dr Muli (Law Society of Kenya), Mr Francis Atwoli (Central Organisation of Trade Unions) and Mr Halakhe Waqo (Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission).
Mr Atwoli was the only member absent throughout the interview process.
The panel chairperson stated that he was in Geneva attending an annual international conference related to unions.
