Case challenging Joho’s appointment as Mining CS continues today

The High Court will today issue fresh directions in a case in which a human rights group is seeking to revoke the appointment of Ali Hassan Joho as CS for Mining and initiate fresh proceedings.

Genesis for Human Rights Commission claims that the nominating commission ignored a number of notes purporting to contain evidence of Joho’s unfitness to be appointed.

Joho took over from his predecessor Salim Mvurya on August 9 after being sworn in alongside 18 other cabinet members in a ceremony presided over by President William Ruto.

However, the rights group says Joho should not have been exonerated because he does not have the academic qualifications required to serve as cabinet secretary.

Caleb Ngwena, the group’s executive director, says he and other Kenyans submitted memorandums about Joho’s unfitness, but these were not considered.

According to the memo, Caleb explains that he detailed the reasons and evidence that Joho was not academically qualified to be appointed to his current position due to lack of appropriate academic qualifications and allegations of economic crimes.

The other reason for his ineptitude lies in his alleged drug trafficking deals, according to the filing in Parliament by the late Professor George Saitoti.

“The Registrar of Political Parties also failed in its mandate by allowing Joho to be appointed as a state officer, despite having documents indicating that Joho was the deputy leader of the Orange Democratic Movement party, responsible for oversee the investments and expenditures of the government and its members,” he said.

He claims to have submitted his memorandum in the form of affidavits, but these were not carefully reviewed.

“The respondents did not take into account our memorandum of incapacity, making this appointment a violation of the constitution,” it adds.

Based on this, the group requested the court to declare its appointment unconstitutional and direct the competent authority to appoint a suitable person for the post of CS for Mining.

Joho, in response to the matter, claimed that he was legally in office, further denying any activity related to drug trafficking.

He challenged the group to present evidence in court that they are engaged in drug trafficking.

“The problem of drug trafficking is simple, baseless and so pervasive that it is not possible for any party to adequately address it,” Joho said.

“It is therefore denied and the petitioner is invited to provide proof,” he adds.