Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has been stripped off powers to employ staff to the office of the Attorney General after parliament approved amendments to the law.

The AG had complained that the bureaucracies involved in the recruitment of staff by the PSC was affecting the operations of the office and hence the need to give it powers to hire by amending the Attorney General Act of 2012.

The changes were contained in the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2023 which President William Ruto is expected to assent this week.

The new law has established an Advisory Board chaired by the Attorney General to replace the PSC in the employment of staff function at the AG’s office.

Advice the AG

“There is established a board to be known as the Advisory Board to the Office of the Attorney-General. The board shall advise the Attorney-General on matters that may be referred to the board by the Attorney-General,” reads the new law.

Attorney General Justin Muturi, the Judiciary, Office of The Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), Law Society of Kenya (LSK) supported the move to make the OAG autonomous. The Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) however opposed the changes.

Muturi in his submissions said that the current structural design in his office hinders its ability to recruit and retain experienced state counsels to support its operations and effectively implement its mandate.

He hit out at the PSC for overlooking his office in the appointment of Deputy Solicitors General, State Counsel and other staff.

 “The connection with PSC in the employment of staff has never worked well with the Office of the Attorney General,” he added.

The OAG has lost 130 senior State Counsel between January 2015 and December 2023 on account of poor remuneration and lack of career progression. Although the OAG has the best legal minds in the profession, they never last as they are “poached” by well remunerating institutions both in public service like Parliament, ODPP and the private sector.

Poor remuneration

He also accused PSC of failing to properly remunerate, retain and employ enough States Counsel saying it is the reason the government has been losing numerous cases in court, in the process making taxpayers incur huge bills.

“The State Law office is understaffed and demoralized. Whenever we want to send the State Counsels to counties to offer services to the people, PSC always says no. The Cabinet Secretaries are requesting for Counsels but then we have a limited number,” Muturi said in a memorandum to parliament.

He argued that the OAG and the Department of Justice being similar to a law firm require the AG to be given wider powers to recruit, promote, incentivize and discipline them.

“The empowering of the OAG with the aforementioned powers will allow it to properly manage deputy solicitors General and state counsels and prevent the poaching of skilled officers by other entities after having received invaluable apprenticeship at OAG,” said the Muturi.

The LSK while supporting the changes noted that the aforementioned challenges in the AG’s office have led to the demotivation of state counsels with many highly experienced and qualified personnel leaving to seek greener pastures outside the state Law office and government.”

The ODPP supported the proposal in so far as it aims to create harmony with the relevant statutes for the AG’s office.

The PSC is currently in charge of employing officers at the Office of the Attorney-General from the Solicitor-General, the Attorney-General’s principal assistant and the accounting officer of the State Law Office, to subordinate staff.

The Advisory Board shall consist of the AG (chairperson) and Principal Secretaries (PSs) responsible for Public Service and National Treasury and Chairperson of the Public Service Commission “or a representative designated in writing by the Chairperson.”