From DPP to NIS; How Hajji has been a man under siege

NIS Boss Noordin Haji. [Jenipher Wachie, Standard]

Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua and National Intelligence Service boss Noordin Haji are not strangers. In the course of their relationship, they have learnt to hate each other, taking time to prosecute each other whenever an opportunity arises.

It started with Gachagua's alleged persecution by Haji when he was Director of Public prosecution. At the time, Gachagua, then an MP for Mathira, fell afoul with President Uhuru Kenyatta when he allied himself with the then deputy president, William Ruto.

This week Gachagua stunned the nation when he said have Haji should bear the brunt of the deaths of protestors and resign over failure to advise President William Ruto accordingly on the perception of members of the public on the Finance Bill has revived the tribulations that Hajji went through in the former regime.

On Wednesday, the DP argued that Haji’s incompetence stems from bungled circumstances surrounding his appointment to the state agency and accused him of suffering from an inferiority complex since he was once a junior officer at the same institution before he was promoted to his previous role as the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

“Haji was a junior officer in the NIS before he was appointed as DPP. When he was appointed to the office as DG, because of the inferiority complex, he chased away all the people who were senior to him when he was in the service, thereby crippling the capacity of that service and making it dysfunctional,” said Gachagua.

The second in command further accused Haji of undertaking frequent travels across the globe which led him to lose his touch and grasp with the people and affairs of the nation and was thus unable to advise the president effectively.

“Haji must take responsibility for the deaths that occurred and for the mayhem and for failing Ruto, the government and he must take responsibility for failing the people for not doing his job and advising correctly. He must do the honourable thing, by not only taking responsibility but resigning from that office and allowing the president to pick a competent DG,” said Gachagua.

It should not be lost that Hajji is the man who approved Gachagua’s graft charges in the former regime alongside other leaders who served in Uhuru’s administration.

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Hajji was the Director of Public Prosecutions(DPP) when Gachagua was hauled into court and accused of being corrupt. Gachagua protested that he was being unfairly targeted with trumped-up corruption charges for opposing Uhuru's candidate, Raila Odinga in the 2022 general elections in favour of Ruto.

This was because most of the leaders who faced graft accusations mostly hailed from Ruto’s Rift Valley backyard while in the Mt Kenya region, only Ruto’s allies faced charges in court in what they termed as a vicious campaign to link them with scandals in a scheme is to discredit their boss as graft-tainted before the 2022 General Election.

Ruto’s lieutenants claimed State institutions were being used by a cabal of powerful leaders to harangue and smear Ruto's allies, claiming their man was the ultimate target.

After the 2022 general elections, Hajji was again in the spotlight for withdrawing the cases he had filed against Ruto's allies to the point of defending his actions

On May 22 2023 Haji defended his withdrawal of high-profile cases of Ruto allies that involved former officials in the corporate sector who were set free on account of the withdrawal of charges.

“I know I have become synonymous with withdrawal but withdrawals are provided for under the constitution and it is a right where there is a miscarriage of justice,” the DPP said.

“We must, no matter who that person is in the society, even when that person comes from the high and mighty, that withdrawal must be done if it is justified.”

Among the politicians whose cases Haji dropped were Gachagua, Cabinet Secretaries Aisha Jumwa and Mithika Linturi, which a section of Kenya Kwanza politicians termed as the arrival of freedom even as Haji cited a lack of sufficient evidence.

Then came Haji's appointment that lobby groups and lawyers opposed accusing him of incompetent and failure to comply with the law while dropping the corruption charges.

Some of the lobby groups that opposed Haji’s appointment as Nis boss included Institute for Social Accountability (TISA), Transparency International Kenya (TIK), National Integrity Alliance (NIA), Nakuru and Nakuru based lawyer Khathrine Cherotic who filed at the High court blocking his appointment.

Transparency International Kenya (TIK) Executive Director Sheila Masinde claimed that the civil organisation spent the last eight months looking at cases that were being dropped and said that based on their analysis they found that Haji was incompetent and did not comply with the law to discharge his mandate as the DPP.

"You have been working in an office and charged with the prosecution and then after five years you are telling us that the cases you have handled amounted to nothing if that does not demonstrate incompetence and gross misconduct, what does?" She added.

She added that a lot of money spent on investigations and prosecution was lost and that Kenya could not entrust Haji with another office since he did not exercise independence in the previous office.

(NIA), a citizen-centred integrity and anti-corruption coalition, said Haji's nomination contravened Chapter 6 of the constitution which provides guidelines on leadership and integrity.

It argued that Haji was unfit to hold the office since his conduct as DPP had been questionable, particularly after dismissing eight graft-related cases linked to influential government officials.

"Regrettably Mr Haji's past actions while serving as the DPP have demonstrated a clear disregard for these fundamental principles. In the past 8 months, Kenyans have been astonished by a pattern of the withdrawal of corruption cases involving certain politically connected individuals which raises doubt to the DPP's impartiality and commitment to fight corruption," the Alliance told a media conference.

"If these 8 cases had been successfully adjudicated Kenyans would have recovered about Ksh.11.3 billion let alone the time and human resources that have been spent in the investigation, prosecution and adjudication process which could aid in dispensing other cases," NIA added.

Haji had claimed that his office was misled by the former Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti to believe there was concrete evidence in some of the cases, saying of DP Gachagua’s Ksh.7.5 billion fraud case, for instance, that he was “pushed y the DCI himself, through the media.”

However, as he faces tribulations, Haji has found a solace after his natives from North Eastern defended himself against Gachagua’s claims.

Addressing the press in Nairobi, the leaders expressed their dissatisfaction with the remarks noting leveling accusations against him in the press is not only reckless but also unfortunate.

According to the leaders, Gachagua has an opportunity to raise the matter in the security committee which he is part of instead of making the matter public.

“The DP’s actions in discussing sensitive civil servants such as the Director General of the NIS in the press instead of taking his concerns to the National Security Committee in which both of them sit, are reckless and unfortunate,” a statement issued after a meeting read.

The utterances by the DP, they noted, demean and undermine the sanctity and honour of the presidency and the government he serves and called for his resignation or face an impeachment motion.

“Following his attacks on Haji and open sabotage of President William Ruto, it is untenable for him to continue serving as Deputy President,” the statement further reads.