PRESS STATEMENT

NCIC POSITION ON THE VETTING PROCESS OF THE DPP

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Delta House, 4th Floor, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) wishes to raise concerns regarding the selection process for the office of the Director of Public Prosecution. A key aspect that has been brought to play by the current constitution is that holders of public offices must be persons of integrity.

In the process of assessing a nominee’s integrity, for the process to be deemed fair all persons participating in the vetting must be free of suspicions of personal interest. In this regard our concern as far as the process is concerned is the failure to disclose interest by a Member of Parliament who sat through the parliamentary vetting process.

Hon. Chirau Makwere Member of Parliament for Matuga Constituency and Minister is a suspect in a matter under the NCIC Act 13 that prohibits hate speech. During the campaigns leading up to the Matuga By election on 13th July 2010, NCIC received complaints from many sources including the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) on utterances by Hon. Chirau Ali Makwere. The complainants construed his utterances as being likely to cause ethnic tension and disharmony in the constituency.

The statements incited the Digo, Duruma and Kamba communities whom Hon. Makwere referred to as “Waafrika” against the Kenyans of Arabic origin, who he referred to derogatorily as “Waarabu na Waswahili”. Initial investigations by NCIC and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) concluded that the circumstances presented a case that should proceed to prosecution. As is required by law, the file was forwarded to the DPP and the Hon. Attorney General for prosecution.

In response to a ministerial statement sought by Hon. Olago Oluoch on the failure to act on the hate speech complaint against Hon. Makwere, the Attorney General responded and I quote “that the DPP had requested the Police to confirm the status of investigations and give an indication of when the same are likely to be completed. The Police have since confirmed that the Investigation are ongoing and that they would be completed within two weeks.’’

This statement was made on Tuesday 24th August 2010 and recorded in the Hansard.

No action has been taken so far.

The complainants have received threats against their lives.

We have a duty to the complainants to ensure that justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done. The National Cohesion and Integration Commission avers the following:

1. That in light of the above, the vetting process was flawed.
2. That Hon. Makwere desists from interviewing any other candidates until his matter is heard.
3. That Hon. Makwere should have excluded himself from the panel in line Article 73 (2) (b) with the requirements of Chapter 6 of the Constitution.
4. That pursuant to the above, the NCIC has requested Kenya Anti Corruption Commission (KACC) to give an advisory on this conflict of interest of Hon. Makwere interviewing a nominee who is expected to prosecute him.