Marende: Sorry, go back and try again
President Kibaki’s nominations to four top State jobs including the new Chief Justice were on Thursday thrown out of Parliament.
House Speaker Kenneth Marende returned the matter to President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to follow the law and bring a new list to the House for vetting and approval.
“This ruling is not in any way a commentary on the suitability of any of the nominees,” Mr Marende said. (Read: Speaker's ruling on Kibaki's nominees)
The verdict put an abrupt end to the ambitions of Court of Appeal Judge Alnashir Visram who had been proposed for the position of Chief Justice, Prof Githu Muigai (Attorney General), Mr Kioko Kilukumi (Director of Public Prosecutions) and Mr William Kirwa (Controller of Budget).
Clearing the names is a critical part of Kenya’s efforts to convince both the UN Security Council and International Criminal Court that the country’s Judiciary, prosecution and AGs offices have reformed to the point where cases involving post-election suspects can be handled at home.
The one-hour ruling, which could be interpreted to mean victory for the PM who had disputed the nominees, now opens a new round of political fights between the PNU and ODM.
Mr Marende, who seemed to stand between the two sides that have been fighting over the list, warned against any attempts to water down the firm provisions in the new Constitution under the guise that the country is in a transitional period.
He declared Parliament would not debate the list the President submitted on January 31, thus expunging the reports by the committees of Justice and Legal Affairs, and the one on Finance and Trade from House records.
“This House will not proceed with any business concerning the concerns as per the list that was received from the President. The reports of the two Committees will also not make part of the records of this House,” he ruled.
He urged the President and the PM to live within the provisions of the Constitution and the National Accord, stating that adequate consultations did not take place.
“Consultations are not made if the House receives the list on which there is open disagreement between the President and the Prime Minister. As such, it is unconstitutional and the unconstitutionality cannot be cured by this House,” Mr Marende said as ODM MPs cheered.
In an apparent reference to the failure by the President and the PM to reach an agreement over the list, the Speaker spoke of the difficulty he had over the ruling. “I had hoped not to rule on contestations on nominations. The time has come to make difficult decisions,” he said.
The Speaker said that after he directed that the row be taken to the two committees, he hoped that the President and the PM will take steps to resolve the impasse over the list. (Read: Speaker holds back, but judge rules list illegal)
“The window, (after the ruling on February 3, 2011) remained open to make the nomination uncontested. This was not to be. The unsatisfactory position has grown in leaps and bounds to cause anxiety in the country. Be it as it may, the Speaker must make a ruling,” the Speaker said.
He made the ruling after the two teams on Justice chaired by Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba and on Finance chaired by Chris Okemo submitted their reports.
In the Finance team’s report, the majority opinion mainly held by PNU MPs and allies of suspended minister William Ruto said the nominations for the AG and DPP were in line with the new Constitution and should proceed to the next stage of vetting.
They, however, recommended that the nominee for the CJ should be returned to the President for fresh nominations even though it met constitutional requirements. Their recommendation, they said, was driven by the importance attached to the office of the CJ.
“Given the importance of the head of a newly reformed Judiciary, we recommend the re-processing of this nomination through the Judicial Service Commission,” they stated.
The dissenting MPs argued that the nomination process failed to meet the criteria as set in the Constitution and recommended that the list of three nominees be taken back to the principals to re-start the exercise.
