Agriculture CS Koskei wants suit seeking his removal dismissed

NAIROBI, KENYA: Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei has asked the High Court not to declare him unfit to hold office on allegations of abuse of office.

Through a sworn statement before Commissioner of Oaths Oscar Litoro, Koskei said he has never interfered with the operations of the Agricultural Sector Co-ordinating Unit (ASCU).

“It is not true that I have mishandled, harassed or mistreated the staff. The allegations of nepotism and favouritism in the composition of the task force -that some members are relatives or cronies of top Ministry of Agriculture officials are unfounded,” said Koskei

“The ASCU Co-ordinator has not been sacked but has only been asked to step aside to allow a systems audit of ASCU.”

But according to petitioners Okiya Omtatah and Wycliffe Nyakina, the Co-ordinator of ASCU, Dr M. Kithome, reports directly to the Inter-ministerial Co-ordination Committee.

The CS is alleged to have disregarded the recommendations of the inter-ministerial meeting on ASCU, which brought together top civil servants, and which the respondent himself chaired on November 6, 2013.

The suit tags along the Government’s process of making AFFA operational, under the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority Act, 2013 (No. 13 of 2013).

In the process of making the authority operational, the CS is said to have relieved some staff members of the merged institutions, contrary to the inter-ministerial recommendations.

Koskei said the petition by Omtatah raises the same issues raised in the judicial review application filed by Kithome against him.