Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has condemned former Law Society of Kenya President Nelson Havi and lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi for claiming that all dismissed CSs are unfit to hold any state office after being fired by President William Ruto.
Responding to a gazettement on the dismissal of Ruto’s 21 CSs, Havi wrote on X that the dismissal “means that they are ineligible to hold any public office forever: appointive or elective.”
The lawyer added that the ousted CSs, citing the law, sit in the same category as impeached Governors or Judges found unsuitable to serve.
Top lawyer Ahmednasir also backed Havi’s sentiments stating that Ruto’s dismissal was made after having met a needed constitutional threshold and that the CSs cannot be re-appointed.
“That is a very bold and brave submission and I’m afraid Havi states the law correctly. President Ruto can’t reappoint any member of the cabinet because their dismissal under the constitution implied a grave omission or commission,” wrote Ahmednasir on X.
“That grave constitutional omission or commission hasn’t been erased or addressed in the past week…and can’t be addressed in the future. Reappointing any dismissed CS will engulf President Ruto in afresh political crisis and unparalleled constitutional imbroglio.”
In his swift rejoinder, Kuria disputed the lawyers’ opinions, arguing that their submissions were ill-informed since a dismissal on grounds of impeachment would warrant disciplinary action for the CSs and not a class action.
“As lawyers of (dis)repute, you need to read whatever provisions against the tenets of fair administrative action. If your ‘scholarly’ arguments are to hold water, the affected persons then have to be taken through a disciplinary process or a court martial. Not a class action,” wrote Kuria.
“Otherwise, if you are dismissed as a clerk at Safaricom you don’t even qualify for a certificate of good conduct. This McCarthyism by you Pharisees MUST STOP.”
