High Court Upholds Dorcas Oduor’s Appointment as Attorney General, Rules Muturi Resigned Voluntarily
The High Court has made its ruling on the appointment of Dorcas Oduor as Attorney General, backing President William Ruto in his decision to appoint her to the position, after knocking back a challenge to the way her predecessor, Justin Muturi, was given the boot.
Delivering the verdict , Justice Lawrence Mugambi basically said that former Attorney General Muturi had quite cheerfully handed in his notice on 11th of July 2024 – and so it isn’t true to say he was pushed out of office as the petitioners had been saying. The petitioners – who included Dr. Magare Gikenyi and six others – had been trying to get the court to rule that Muturi’s departure was some sort of ‘forced exit’ in disguise. They were also saying that Oduor’s appointment just didn’t follow the rules as set down in the constitution, relating to who should be in charge of the Office of the Attorney General.
At the time, Muturi had been in the top job since October 2022 – and had then been moved to the Ministry of Public Service, where he held the position of Minister briefly – before being chucked out in early March this year. His replacement as Minister in the Public Service department – Geoffrey Ruku – was appointed a little time after that.
The evidence just didn’t stack up in the petitioners favour, Justice Mugambi said. “The court is satisfied that the evidence that the respondents presented – including a letter signed by Muturi saying he was quitting and a notice in the Gazette – is good enough proof that Muturi had actually left office through resignation, not being fired.” He pointed out that once Muturi’s resignation had been accepted by the President, the job became vacant ‘automatically’ – which then meant that a new Attorney General could be lawfully appointed.
The court also shut down claims that the Gazette notice announcing Muturi’s resignation had been altered after all the public criticism that came its way. Justice Mugambi said that there just wasn’t any proof of any tampering or anything being done in bad faith. “You can’t just go ahead and assume the worst – in cases like this you need solid evidence to back up what you’re saying.” He also made it clear that just because people might suspect something might be up politically – doesn’t mean it is. He noted that neither Parliament nor the Public Service Commission were involved in confirming the fact that the job had become vacant – so that didn’t need to be sorted out.
That’s it then – the petition has been thrown out, so Dorcas Oduor’s appointment as Attorney General stands – bringing an end to months of uncertainty over who was really in charge of the State Law Office.
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High Court Upholds Dorcas Oduor’s Appointment as Attorney General, Rules Muturi Resigned Voluntarily