Muturi disowns draft law on Ruto CASs

Attorney General Justin Muturi yesterday disclosed the omnibus bill seeking to transfer the custody of the public seal of the Republic of Kenya from his office to that of the Head of Public Service as well as regularise the positions of the Cabinet Administrative Secretaries did not originate from the Cabinet.

Muturi told MPs he is aware that the National Government Administration Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 has elicited mixed reactions especially on the proposal to transfer the custody of the seal to the office of the Head of Public Service headed by Felix Koskei. “The bill was at some point brought to the AG. I know many people are asking us where this bill came from but let me leave this matter to this committee.”

While appearing before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) that is considering the bill, Muturi said the bill was only brought to his office at some point but did not follow the normal procedure.

He said before a bill is published it starts with a policy which is approved by Parliament and later submitted to the Executive which extract issues they feel require legislation, and once this is done it is submitted to the cabinet for approval and publication.

He said: “Once this is done our office publicises the bill which takes the names of the leader of the majority party or the committee because the executive does not sit in the house, but on this bill, I just want to say that I haven’t seen this process done on it and I know this committee has been given a brief on it.”

“At least now there is an existing office of the secretary to the cabinet who communicates all the decisions of the cabinet. If she appeared here and said that she never saw it then she was right,” he added in reference to submissions made by Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau on Monday.

Muturi, however, clarified that despite the move all is well in his office. “Everything is well with me and there is no cause for alarm. I believe it’s healthy for people to have freedom of expression for people to talk freely.”

Muturi was responding to questions from committee members who had questioned the constitutionality of the bill.

The lawmakers also sought to know whether all was well with him following the current onslaught in his office.

Bill approval

Gatanga MP Edward Muriu sought to know whether by approving the bill, this will be in line with the constitution or not.

Majority whip and South Mugirango MP Slyvanus Osoro and Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse sought to know whether there was onslaught against him.

Asked Osoro: “Is everything well with you Mr AG.”

Added Mutuse: “Is there any onslaught against you or your office.”

Muturi’s sentiment came on the day leader of Minority and Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi also opposed the publication of the bill.

Wandayi criticised the proposal to transfer the custody of the seal, noting that no sufficient justification had been provided for the move.

He said at the moment, the position of the Head of Public Service is not provided for by any Law and the effect of deleting Section 28 of the Attorney General Act, 2012, may lead to a Lacuna whereby the custodian of the Public Seal will remain unknown in the event that the proposed amendments to create office of Head of Public Service does not succeed.

Said Wandayi: “No justification has provided for the deletion of this section with the consequent effect of transferring the custody of the Public Seal from the office of the Attorney General to the proposed office of the Head of Public Service.”

On the CASs, Wandayi opposed the move, saying the Constitution prescribed a lean government yet the proposal seemed to be leaving open the number of CASs to be determined by the Public Service Commission.

He said the proposed functions of the CASs seem to be overlapping with other existing offices such as PSs while noting that the proposed amendments are not clear on the hierarchy among CSs, the PSs and CASs.