Activist Okiya Omtatah in court to block bid to oust Auditor General

Human rights activist Okiya Omtatah has filed a petition in the High Court to bar the removal from office of the embattled Auditor General Edward Ouko over public fund misuse claims.

Omtatah has accused the National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi and Emmanuel Mwagambo, an advocate who through a petition to the National Assembly sought the immediate removal of Ouko, citing misuse of public funds, of a scheme to have Ouko battled out of office.

In the lawsuit filed Friday, Omtatah said Mwagambo’s petition indexed as ‘National Assembly Petition No. 6 of 2017’ blatantly violated the Constitution for lacking merit and therefore, he wants it be declared null and void.

He has argued that Muturi abused his powers by “aiding and abetting the orchestrated witch-hunt to remove the first respondent (Ouko) from the office as the Auditor General, contrary to Article 236 of the Constitution, by approving and fast tracking the 4th respondent’s (Mwagambo’s) frivolous, vexatious and scandalous petition that is NOT backed by any evidence, and thereby infringes on the first interested party’s (Ouko’s) right to a fair trial, due process, and fair administrative action.”

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Political wars

Omtatah said the wars facing the Ouko are being fueled by members of the Executive and the Legislature, who are fast-tracking his immediate removal from office.

“Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) irregularly appointed the firm of Baker Tilly Merali to audit the accounts of the Office of the Auditor General,” reads part of Omtatah’s petition.

Its continues: “When some MPs realised the error, they devised a scheme to wriggle the PSC out of trouble by accusing Ouko of compromising the audit firm by awarding it a contract to do another job within the office.”

Omtatah, the Executive Director for Kenyans for Justice and Development (KEJUDE), further blamed President Uhuru Kenyatta for openly mocking Ouko during the State House Summit on Anti Corruption and Accountability in October last year, over his involvement in the audit of Eurobond proceeds.

He has hit at majority leader Aden Duale for leading an onslaught against Ouko by publicly accusing him of crafting audit reports to settle political goals.

He has called on the court to dismiss the petition based on the strict timelines within which the National Assembly operates and the fact that parliament may not have the capacity to carry out proper investigations.

On Thursday, the National Assembly’s Finance and Trade Committee handling Mwagambo’s petition ruled that he appears before the committee in person to prosecute the petition despite his application to have the committee consider his written memorandum on grounds that his life is in danger.

Ouko has not spoken about his willingness to appear before the committee yet.