Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Ali Joho has dismissed claims levelled against him by a non-governmental organisation he is involved in drug trafficking.

Joho in his response to a petition filed by Genesis for Human Rights Commission through lawyer Paul Butti, says issues of drug trafficking raised against him by the petitioner were unsubstantiated.

Last week, High Court judge Lawrence Mugambi directed Joho to respond to the claims before the October 11 hearing.
“The issues raised by the petitioner are so generalised that it is not possible for any party to adequately respond to them, it is therefore wholly denied and the petitioner invited to prove the same to the standards,” says Joho.

Joho in his notice of memorandum filed before court has denied claims of irregularly and illegally being appointed into the office. He has also denied cases of economic crimes and drug trafficking being levelled against him.

The rights group, through its executive director, Caleb Ngwena cites Joho’s , alleged involvement in drug trafficking as contained in a report tabled in parliament by late Interior Security Minister Prof. George Saitoti.

Ngwena is also seeking to have Joho’s appointment quashed due to lack of requisite academic qualifications to hold the office of cabinet secretary.

Academic qualifications

But in his affidavit, the CS states that issues of academic qualifications and certificates as raised by Ngwena in his petition are res judicata since a judgment had been delivered which cleared him of having been qualified.

Joho says his academic certificates and qualification had been subject to court proceedings and had already been determined by the high court sitting in Nairobi. “It is contended that the judgment in the constitutional petition number 116 of 2013 is a judgment that binds all persons including the interested party.”

He averred that his appointment as Cabinet Secretary is the sole mandate of the Executive, and as such Ngwena erred in law in seeking for Joho’s appointment to be quashed by the high court.

“The appointment of the cabinet secretaries is a function of the executive, therefore it is incompatible with the constitutional set up for any other arm of the government to dictate or direct another arm of the government on how it should carry its mandate without following the due process,” he states.

While appearing for vetting before the Committee on Appointments on Sunday, Joho elucidated that he was implicated in drug trafficking scandals in 2010 in a report that was tabled before Parliament and he was later cleared after an extensive probe.

The report was issued by the US Embassy and was cited in the House by Saitoti listing Joho and other suspects as drug traffickers who operate in Kenya.