By Isaiah Lucheli
Nairobi, Kenya: Mumo Matemu wants the Court of Appeal to quash the decision by a lower court to nullify his nomination as the chairman of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
Through lawyer Waweru Gatonye, Matemu has outlined 42 grounds of defense against the decision by high court Judge Mumbi Ngugi to nullify his nomination and gazettement on integrity grounds following a suit filed by a civil society.
Gatonye in his submissions to Judges Kihara Kariuki, Patrick Kiage, Agnes Murgor, Kairo Gatembu and William Ouko said that grounds were strong enough to prove that the high court had erred in the ruling that overturned the decision of Parliament, the Prime Minister and the president to approve Matemu for the position.
The lawyer explained that the suit opposing the appointment of Matemu was filed in bad faith as the applicants had failed to submit their complaints to the parliamentary committee that vetted him and the recruiting body before his nomination.
“Trusted Society of Human Rights Alliance had failed to present any memorandum to the parliamentary committee or the recruitment team. The failure to complain and the wait until a person is gazetted was in bad faith,” said Gatonye.
He added that in the petition filed in the court the petitioners had failed to show with reasonable precision the Articles that had been violated and in what manner they had been breached in the nomination of Matemu.
The counsel explained that the court had failed to observe the doctrine of separation of powers in nullifying of the nomination as the appointment process had been approved by the legislature and the executive.
“The parliament and the executive are constitutional bodies just like the executive and it is wrong for the high court to usurp the powers of other constitutional organs as they within the confines of the law. The court should not substitute the decision of another organ,” he said.
Matemu finished his submissions and the respondents are expected to give their submissions.
The high court nullified his nomination following allegations against Matemu during his tenure as the Legal Officer, Acting company secretary, deputy chief legal officer of AFC, which they said should be resolved before he assumed office.
In their petition the human rights body claimed that Matemu was at worst involved in several shody deals that resulted in the farmers’ organization losing million of tax payers’ money.
The petitioner added that Matemu was at least criminally negligent in failing to exercise due diligence to prevent several incidences of fraud at AFC that resulted to the loses.
This include a claim that Matemu was involved in approving a loan of Sh24 million to Rift Valley Agriculture Contractors (RVAC) using land registration number Nakuru/Municipality block 6/23 as collateral but official search of the title revealed that no charge was ever registered over the title raising integrity of the transaction.
