Sunday, July 7, 2013

Day President Uhuru Kenyatta’s pick for Solicitor General survived by a whisker

Updated Saturday, July 6th 2013 at 23:50 GMT +3


Solicitor General Njee Muturi during vetting.
By VITALIS KIMUTAI
As President Uhuru Kenyatta hosted Jubilee Coalition MPs to a luncheon at State House Nairobi last Tuesday, Cord MPs were plotting rejection of his nominee for Solicitor-General, Njee Muturi.
The Cord MPs — still smarting from a humiliating defeat the previous week at the hands of their Jubilee counterparts over Minority Deputy Leader Jakoyo Midiwo’s attempt to amend the Appropriations Bill and re-allocate money to striking teachers — were itching for revenge and their plan almost went through.
It was Leader of Majority Aden Duale who saved the day for the President’s key point-man by applying delaying tactics during the debate for over half an hour engaging the Cord side led by Majority leader Francis Nyenze.
The Cord coalition — egged on by the fact that Cord, for the first time since the inception of the 11th Parliament, had the highest number of MPs in the House — repeatedly pushed the Speaker to end the debate and put the question whether the nominee should be endorsed for the position or not.
When the debate started, Cord had in the Chamber 53 MPs against Jubilee’s 27.
“The call by Cord coalition for the question to be put is not genuine as they are aware majority of the Jubilee MPs are not yet in the House,” said Dualeamid laughter from the Cord side and cheers from Jubilee MPs.
Duale repeatedly made remarks inviting interruptions and point-of-orders from Cord MPs, in a clear move to buy time as the MPs abandoned their lunch at State House and rushed back to participate in the debate.
“Muturi was picked for the job from among 16 applicants, and the interviewing panel and Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs that vetted him found him suitable for the job as besides his professional experience, he is a man of good integrity,” said Duale. Immediately after making his contribution and successfully warding off the fight, Duale rushed out of the Chamber to make phone calls to the MPs and shore up the numbers in the House. Majority Chief Whip Katoo ole Metito —also the Kajiado South MP — was busy making frantic phone calls to
messages to MPs to rush to the House to save the President’s nominee. Kajiado Central MP Joseph Nkaissery, who supported the appointment, slammed the Jubilee side for overdramatising the debate and whipping MPs to the House.
“Muturi had the support of the majority MPs from both sides and would have easily sailed through even with Cord having a majority in the House. It is sad such archaic tactics are employed even where it is not necessary and this has the potential of messing up the otherwise good track record and career of public servants,” said Nkaissery.
Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo said Muturi was not the right person despite his being “a good lawyer, analyst, political adviser and a gentleman”.
“Ms Muthoni Kimani, the Deputy Solicitor-General and who is more experienced than Muturi, should have been appointed as the Solicitor-General but she has been bypassed by virtue of the fact that she is a woman,” claimed Odhiambo.
She said: “I do not have any vendetta against the nominee but I feel he should have been appointed to the position of State House Comptroller or the President’s legal adviser,” she said.
Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkonga, who is the chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, took the House through a number of observations made by his team who found Muturi suitable for the job.
lack independence
“He was a participant in the constitutional review process and has attended a number of conferences touching on leadership,” said Chepkonga.
Some MPs, however, were of the opinion the nominee did not merit the position as he would lack independence owing to the fact he was too cozy with the President.
Suba MP John Mbadi noted the office of Solicitor-General is instrumental in awarding Government contracts, among other high level businesses.
“This is a very key office. When you are appointing someone to an office of this magnitude, you have to be very careful. We have to bear in mind Muturi was for several years the President’s personal assistant,” he said.
He said former President Kibaki’s regime had its name smeared in dirt as a result of putting friends in certain positions and Uhuru should not employ the same tricks to get his aides jobs in government.
“He (Uhuru) should have taken his friend to a political office. It is for this reason we should reject the nominee,” said Mbadi.
Kuresoi North MP Moses Cheboi, however, said the Solicitor-General is also a political office. Cord MPs further argued appointing Muturi to the position would work against regional balance in top public positions.
An MP who did not want to be named for this story told The Standard On Sunday that they had to abandon lunch at State House and rush to the House for the debate.
“We were summoned to Parliament to save the Solicitor-General nominee from rejection. Majority of us were caught up in the afternoon traffic snarl-up on State House Road and almost failed to make it to the House,” said the MP.
Kiminini MP Chris Wamalwa said in an interview: “This would have been a sweet revenge for Cord, but they survived by a whisker. We will pull the rug under their feet next time as they cannot win forever even with the so-called tyranny of numbers they have”.
It was after Jubilee had majority members in the House that the matter was put to rest, with Muturi being endorsed.

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