Matiangi appeared before the committee together with his Principal Secretaries Karanja Kibicho and Gordon Kihalangwa/COURTESY
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 3 – Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi says there is an “evil clique” of judicial officers colluding with civil society activists to frustrate government operations with court orders.
Matiangi told the National Security and Administration committee on Tuesday that the increased number of court orders issued against key government decisions is a clear indication that there is collusion.
“In the last three years, one Civil Society activists has obtained nearly 30 court orders ex parte. He walks in, gets an order, comes out, he walks in gets another other and walks out. In fact he could even walk in today and says he wants an order so that all Cabinet Secretaries commit suicide and he gets it. What does that say about our judicial system?” he posed.
He cited recent court orders obtained by Miguna Miguna’s lawyers in which top security chiefs were required to do the impossible.
“You can actually sell poison in this country because all you need is to go to court, get a court order and put it on your door and sell poison. And no one says let us serve them so that we can hear what they have to say,” he stated.
He also recalled his time at the Education Ministry where a parents association official obtained numerous orders that frustrated the government’s efforts to streamline the sector.
“This is not about the judiciary. It is about a clique of judicial officers who have got into an unholy relationship with a clique of activists lawyers and people in the civil society with the intention of humiliating the government, stalling the government, embarrassing the government and making it impossible for the government to perform,” he said.
The Cabinet Secretary stated that he has asked Attorney General Paul Kihara to file a formal complaint with the Judicial Service Commission over their conviction for contempt of court, last week in the Miguna saga.
He also dismissed claims by Miguna that he was drugged insisting that he is not aware of any such happening and reiterated that he was sent back to Dubai as an undocumented passenger.
He described the situation that was witnessed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) as unnecessary “melodrama” and stressed that everyone who enters the country must have their passport stamped; in a process that does not diminish their citizenship.
“I don’t know and I’m not aware that Mr Miguna was drugged therefore I will not be able to answer the question because you see, Miguna was on the airside of the airport. You see there are some many lies about this fiasco and I want to be on record as the Minister in charge of Immigration, I am not aware that Mr Miguna was drugged,” he said.
Miguna arrived in Toronto on Monday after more than a week of drama at the JKIA and Dubai airport, and has vowed to return to the country as soon as he is done with medical tests.
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