President Kibaki withdraws nominees

Written By:Margaret Kalekye,    Posted: Tue, Feb 22, 2011

President Mwai Kibaki has withdrawn the nomination of Chief Justice, Director of Public Prosecutions and Controller of Budget. The President who chaired a meeting of Party of National Unity affiliates at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre on Tuesday afternoon however retained the nominee to the post of Attorney General adding that more consultations on the same will be done with Prime Minister Raila Odinga. He said having considered all the concerns expressed in regard to the nomination of the CJ, the process will be done afresh through the Judicial Service Commission. "Given the importance of the office of Chief Justice as head of judicial arm of government, I have considered all concerns expressed in regard to nomination and concluded it is beneficial that the nomination to fill the post of CJ is also done through the Judicial Service Commission." He said that the posts of the budget controller and  the DPP will done by Public Service Commission. The President had nominated Justice Alnashir Visram to be Chief Justice, Prof Githu Muigai (Attorney General), lawyer Kioko Kilukumi (Director of Public Prosecutions) and William Kirwa as Controller of Budget. The two principals have been locked in a tussle over the nominations. The PM said he had not been consulted over the list of nominees that has sparked heated debate. Last week, House Speaker Kenneth Marende declared the nominations illegal and referred the matter back to the principals to restart the process.