Veteran senior lawyer Dr. John Khaminwa has gone to court challenging President Uhuru Kenyatta's directive that seeks to tame the hiring of lawyers by government agencies.
In an appeal filed at the High Court, lawyer Khaminwa is challenging the President's order that bars all state corporations from acquiring services of external lawyers without consent from the office of the Attorney General.
He argues that the directive is unconstitutional which seeks to award powers to the Attorney General that are not enshrined in the constitution.
The directives that were approved by the head of state barred government ministries, state departments, and agencies from acquiring the services of external lawyers without AG's permission.
Furthermore, the directive ordered all state departments and agencies to terminate in 21 days engagements with all external advocates, who had been contracted without express and prior approval by Attorney General Paul Kihara.
The presidential directive seeks to give authority of procuring services away from the state corporations to the Attorney General. This allegedly contradicts part IX of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015.
"The responsibilities in regards of procurement for state corporation falls to the accounting officer of the state corporation, which authority cannot be wrested away from the individual as intended by the directives," the petition stated.
If adopted, agencies that have filed court cases against another state agency will be required to withdraw those cases within 11 days.
"The advocate argues that the directive will create a culture of wastage and misappropriation for sale. Corporations will not have any legal avenue to recover any monies from any other state corporation," the court papers added.
The case is a renewed battle between Khaminwa and President Kenyatta, who during the Court of Appeal hearing of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) hit out at the head of state.
After the case, Khaminwa reported that he was visited by law enforcement officers whose motive still remains unclear.
EACC came out denying reports of their involvement in the alleged visit to Khaminwa.
