Saturday, December 24, 2011

AG accuses Nyachae of disrespect



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By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Friday, December 23  2011 at  22:00
Attorney General Githu Muigai on Friday accused Mr Charles Nyachae of lacking respect for other public servants.
He termed as “unfortunate, irresponsible and inappropriate” claims by Mr Nyachae, who chairs the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC), that he was tabling Bills in Parliament before adequate consultation.
Addressing a news conference at his office in Nairobi, Prof Muigai said Mr Nyachae had no constitutional mandate to supervise him or his officers. He said he was only answerable to Parliament and the Cabinet.
He further said that he reported to the President and the Prime Minister every week on his work.
Prof Muigai said Mr Nyachae had a “disrespectful and unprofessional” habit of denigrating other state officers, when the law was clear on their respective mandates.
He said that Article 261 of the Constitution, which requires the Attorney General to consult with the CIC when drafting laws, was clear on their respective roles.
“What does consultation mean? We get the draft from the parent ministry, do the drafting, we share the draft with the CIC and tell them to quickly give their comments on it, and send the law back to us. If they make comments that we find inappropriate we will not agree with them,” Prof Muigai said.
He went on: “The CIC has no veto powers. It is intended to advise. We can take that advice, but if we don’t agree with it, we’ll reject it.”
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He said that ministries spend money and resources to draft laws, which are forwarded to his office to check for inconsistencies.
But Mr Nyachae told Saturday Nation the AG was part of a conspiracy in government to frustrate implementation of the new law.
He added that the Constitution (“Section 5 (6) of the Sixth Schedule) was very clear as to the mandate of the CIC, which was to monitor, facilitate and oversee the development of legislation and administrative procedures required to implement the Constitution.
Mr Nyachae said other government departments had responded to CIC’s request for an audit of reform activities and questioned why the AG was finding it difficult to respond.
“The AG rightly says his office is tasked with drafting laws; he is an integral part of the process we are supervising when it comes to development of legislation.
“Other people are co-operating. What is it in the Constitution that exempts the AG?” he posed.
“It is not the AG who decides what role he’s going to assign to the CIC. We already have that mandate in the Constitution. When he speaks of not engaging in turf wars, that’s just a red herring. There are things the Executive finds inconvenient to implement, and that’s why they want to overlook the CIC. They’re subverting the Constitution.”
On Thursday, Mr Nyachae accused the AG of failing to advise the Executive on reforms, leading to delays in passing Bills.

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