House team summons Kinoti, DP Haji over simmering feud
The Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji and Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti have been summoned by a parliamentary committee to shed light on simmering tensions between them.
The two offices are said to have fallen out over the handling of high-profile graft cases. The Senate and National Assembly committees on Legal Affairs and Justice will also question the two over their perceived rivalry that has slowed down the war on corruption.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, who chairs the Senate committee, regretted that officers from the two sides have been engaged in heated exchanges over the status of investigations and prosecution of Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) boss Daniel Manduku.
But the two yesterday played down the perceived differences as they turned out in public together at Haji’s office during the signing of an agreement with five commercial banks that have paid Sh 385 million as penalties for failing to detect and report suspicious transactions in the National Youth Service (NYS).
Kinoti used the analogy of disagreements between a wife and husband to explain his working relationship with Haji, and dismissed reports of a conflict as wishful thinking.
“Would you leave your wife over such a small issue?” the DCI asked the reporter who posed the question. “It will be an issue of concern if it happens another time,” a pensive DCI told journalists.
Kinoti had assumed the podium after the DPP asked him to explain, publicly, whether he had said mean words about his office, as reported in a leading newspaper on Thursday. “He is here.
DCI tell these people the truth,” a visibly agitated DPP said in Swahili. “It is a wishful thinking, we are brothers and we will continue to deliver on our mandate,” the DPP asserted.
Isolated case
But without divulging much detail, he said, like in any other working area “teething problems do occur.”
Kinoti further added: “Sincerely, what the DPP has said…you know in the criminal justice sector, such things they usually do happen. If such an incident recurs, that is when we can say there is a problem.”
The DPP said the widely cited incident that exposed disharmony between their officers was an isolated case and could not be used to sum their working relationship.
“We are not fighting at all,” Haji told journalists. “These are teething issues in any institution and should not be interpreted to mean we are at war.”
On Monday, DPP Haji declined to charge KPA Daniel Manduku with graft, leaving the magistrate with no choice but to release him.
He recalled the case file for review at the last minute, when Manduku was already in the basement cells of the Milimani Law Courts waiting to be charged.
“We have summoned DPP Noordin Haji and DCI George Kinoti to appear before our committee and that of the National assembly chaired by Baringo North MP William Cheptumo to discuss issues of national importance,” Senator Cherargei said.
“Because, when, we saw the fight between the two offices on KPA and Manduku case, we thought that as a committee on our own motion, under our standing orders, should summon the DPP and DCI to explain why they are fighting,” he added.
Cherargei held that it will be shameful for the country to have the two offices fighting while they should be working together, it is not good for the country.
According to him, the KPA case was a classic example of what has been happening behind the scenes.
“On Thursday next week, we will be sitting to listen to them because their fight will expose them and undermine the fight against corruption,” the senator held.
He insisted: “We don’t want the DPP or DCI to be a rubber stamp, we want them to work complimentarily and ensure we defect the war on corruption,”
The Nandi lawmaker called for ceasefire between the two offices saying as their rivalry will greatly impact the war on corruption, cases of drug trafficking in the country and other major cases.
DPP Noordin Haji, is part of the multiagency team that comprises DCI boss George Kinoti, DPP Noordin Haji, EACC boss Twalib Mbarak, Asset Recovery Agency director Muthoni Kamau and KRA’s director of Consumer Intelligence Githii Mburu.
The task force is chaired by Attorney general Paul Kihara.
“The fact that the two members (DCI and DPP) in the math are fighting, we thought wise, as a committee they appear before us and explain themselves so that we are able to solve the issues , once for all,”
During their appearance, Senator Cherargei said the DPP and DCI give the status update of the major cases their domain as they are long overdue and should be handled once and for all.
“For the two years, we have seen high profile arrests and prosecutions in court, they must tell the country the status of the corruption of the cases before court,”
At a later date, he said, the committee will engage the Judiciary not to discuss the cases but to find a way on how we can expedite cases before court.
