Uhuru's Lawyer Blocked From Taking Top Govt Position

President Uhuru Kenyatta's lawyer Gerishom Otachi's quest to take up chairmanship at a top government commission has hit a stumbling block, after the court blocked Chief Justice David Maraga from swearing him in.

This comes just hours after the president had gazetted Otachi and eight other members as the approve candidates to take over the embattled National Lands Commission (NLC).

Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, activist Okiya Omtatah revealed that he moved to block the nominated commissioners from assuming office, on grounds that the panel that approved them was incompetent and that Uhuru had made the appointment irregularly.

Gershom Otachi (l) at a past event. He has been appointed at the NLC chairman.

"The panel that appointed them was not complete, it was incompetent, the process was not open because they did not give us the results of the interviews.

"The nomination by the president was irregular because some were nominated for jobs they did not apply for and the approval process in Parliament was fairly shambolic," explained Omtatah.

Otachi was officially appointed as the NLC chairman after approval by Parliament on Wednesday, October 2.

Others appointed include Esther Murugi Mathenge, Professor James Tuitoek, Gertrude Nduku Nguku, Reginald Okumu, Samuel Kazungu Kambi, Hubbie Hussein Al-Haji, Alister Murimi Mutugi and Tiya Galgalo (former Isiolo woman representative).

According to the Gazette Notice, the lawyer was expected to take the reins for a six-year non-renewable term.

The highly respected lawyer has undertaken international legal assignments and represented clients before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania and The International Criminal Court at The Hague in The Netherlands.

Uhuru's lawyer- an alumnus of The University of Nairobi, has also been serving as the chairman of the Geothermal Development Company since 2015.

He trounced 11 other candidates who had expressed interest for the position.

He was expected to take the position from Prof Mahammad Swazuri whose reign was riddled with numerous accusations of corruption.

Activist Okiya Omtatah who made an application to block the approval of the incoming NLC board arguing that the process was irregular.
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