I will approve water tight cases to avoid loss of funds, pledges Oduor

A string of losses in legal suits that have seen the government lose trillions of shillings on Friday confronted Dorcas Oduor as she stood on the cusp of history to be Kenya’s first female Attorney General.

Oduor, who was being vetted for the AG position after her nomination by President William Ruto, was put to task by the National Assembly Committee on Appointments chaired by Speaker Moses Wetangula to explain how she was going to save the government and the country from suffering more defeats in court.  

As the curtain fell on the day-long exercise, the veteran prosecutor appeared before the committee where she faced the House team on her suitability for office.

Oduor fought hard to convince the committee why she was best suited to take up the post, heavily leaning on her 30-year experience in public service to get the job done.

She said that her key priority areas, would be to put an end to the financial haemorrhaging by government departments occasioned by loss of many court cases.

“On govt losing cases, it could be you have a bad case or inadequate representation. I will make sure that I relook at the cases before we move to court and if possible, try to find other mechanisms of resolving issues without going to court,” stated Oduor.

The 54-year-old alumnus of Lwak Girls High School was responding to Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wa’s question on how she would stop the alarming loss of court cases by Government.

He claimed the government had in the recent past lost numerous cases due to “the caliber of staff” in the Attorney General’s office.

The Leader of Majority also took the nominee to task over how she would ensure that she trained and retained good State Counsel amid the reality that the AG’s office had now been turned into a training ground, where lawyers only practiced for a few years and later poached by Parliament, Ministries or proceeded to private practice.

Oduor responded: “If I have insufficient representation, I will look at the capacity and expertise that I have within the office of the Attorney General…we have to enhance the capacity of State Counsel not only legally but also their working environment and their terms and conditions of service.”

She also supported a recent decision by Parliament to delink the office of the AG from the Public Service Commission noting that it would help strengthen the institution.

The House team also delved into the controversies of Presidential Advise, amidst recent claims that President William Ruto has had hard ears with respect to legal advice offered to him by office of the AG.

Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda sought to know what Oduor would do if the Head of State was not taking her advice.

“What will you do if this Committee finds you suitable and you advise the Executive on different matters and your advice is not taken?” posed Lesuuda

“As to what I would do if my advice is not taken, I take it that the Constitution provides that the Attorney General is the principal legal advisor to the government. I look at the president as a vision bearer of the whole country. As he receives advice from the office of the Attorney General, he has to take into account other sectors because the law does not exist in a vacuum,” said Oduor.

The nominee, who declared her net worth to be Sh85 million, however, vowed to advise the President efficiently, justly, and professionally were she to get the honour to do so.

Echoes of the 2007/08 post-election violence also returned to haunt Oduor, coming in the form of a question by Leader of Minority Junet Mohammed.

The lawmaker put Oduor in a tight corner to explain why she did not prosecute individuals suspected of being behind the post-election violence.

In her defense, Oduor submitted, “I chaired a task force to look at offences that were committed. The task force prepared a report that was presented to the President and different arms of government.”

She further explained that in her judgment, she used the law. Notably, Oduor who served as the then Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in 2012, declared that more than 4,000 cases were investigated by the police in relation to PEV were inadmissible in court due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Earlier, Beatrice Askul Moe, who has been nominated as Cabinet Secretary for East Africa Community Affairs appeared before MPs for vetting.

Askul sought to convince the committee of her suitability to the EAC Affairs docket, which she premised on her experience serving in various humanitarian organisations.

The committee wanted her to explain how she would deal with the impact of climate change such as drought and food insecurity in the region, as well as floods.

“We need to incorporate arid land people into the bigger plan of the ministry through negotiations and dialogue at least have the issues raised to the policy decision making table,” she submitted.

The committee also sought to know how she would curb malpractice in procurement and distribution and relief food.

“How will you ensure those responsible will be accountable and gets to right people? Will we continue with the same system through supplies branch?” questioned Ichung’wa.