Justin Muturi: Government didn’t overlook my advice as Attorney-General

Public Service and Human Capital Development Cabinet Secretary nominee Justin Muturi has dismissed claims that the government overlooked advice he gave when he was Attorney-General, even as he defended reforms he introduced to give the State Law Office autonomy to recruit its own staff.

Mr Muturi, nominated by President William Ruto as the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service and Human Capital Development, told the Appointments Committee that over 99.5 per cent of the recommendations he made to the national and county governments were implemented.

“The State Law Office gives advisories to the government and I don’t remember which one was not implemented. I have had a very exciting period as Attorney-General,” said Mr Muturi adding that the Attorney-General’s office is a signatory to all the Cabinet memos.

“Some of these memos we have had to disapprove them.”

Mr Muturi, the immediate former Speaker of the National Assembly, also noted that by introducing the legal reforms to improve the human resource capacity at the State Law Office was not personal.

“The position I took was not personal but to help the institution get the staff it desires. The President saw the merits in the proposal that I made and signed the Bill into law,” said Mr Muturi.

The reforms to give the Attorney-General’s office the autonomy to recruit its own staff away from the bureaucracies of the Public Service Commission (PSC) was contained in the Office of the Attorney-General (Amendment) 2023 Bill.

The Bill was later signed by President William Ruto. At the time the Bill was introduced, the Public Service Commission opposed it, which almost saw the relationship between the two offices degenerate.

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