Nelson Havi Issues Warning to Govt over LSK Fights

LSK President Nelson Havi addressing a press conference on September 24, 2020
LSK President Nelson Havi addressing a press conference on September 24, 2020
File

The ongoing war within the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) escalated on  Monday November 16, with President Nelson Havi accusing the government of meddling in the society's affairs.

Speaking to the media during a live press briefing, Havi warned the national government of dire consequences if it did not stop using embattled LSK Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mercy Wambua to scuttle LSK's affairs.

Matters came to a head in September 2020, after Havi announced that he had suspended the CEO for a month to allow for investigations into a suspicious trip allegedly made by a group of lawyers, and whose details had remained scanty.

LSK Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mercy Wambua.
LSK Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mercy Wambua.
File

"When you came in here you saw the 20 plain clothed strangers who claim to be police officers. They escort Mercy Wambua to and from the office everyday.

"Who is protected by that many state officers if not a state officer. We cannot have a mole in out midst. She has to go," Havi stated.

The LSK President maintained that he had nothing personal against the CEO, adding that the decision to oust her had been made by the entire council.

Havi added that some members of the council had since been compromised to side with the CEO.

Havi alleged that the CEO was keen on accessing her office in a bid to falsify documents and stall the mandated audit of the society's accounts.

"We cannot report her to police as she is brought in each morning by the very police we are supposed to turn to," he remarked.

Mercy's woes began back in November 2019, an internal memo drawn up by Bernhard Kipkoech (one of the 12 members of the council) accused her of abuse of office, bias, fraud, incompetence, insubordination and gross negligence.

“The CEO is the spanner thrown at the progress of the society. She is everything the society does not need to progress vertically and horizontal. Or progress at all,” reads an excerpt from the memo titled Misconduct by Chief Executive Officer of the Law Society of Kenya.

This was not the first time Wambua is having an altercation with a section of the LSK members who questioned her leadership style.

In September 2018, a group of young lawyers planned a coup against her during a special general meeting over similar claims.

Watch Havi's press briefing below:

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