Economy

High Court stops fresh vetting of EACC staff

kinisu

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Philip Kinisu. PHOTO | FILE

Employees of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission have won a reprieve after the High Court issued an order stopping them from going through a fresh vetting process.

Justice Joseph Onguto issued the temporary order halting the exercise after a lobby group challenged EACC’s chairman Phillip Kinisu’s public announcement last month that all staff would be vetted afresh as one of its strategies to crack down on wanton corruption as well as   negative public perception that it was ineffective and largely biased.

“Pending the hearing and determination of this case, an order is hereby issued staying the vetting of EACC employees employed on or before September 3, 2015 last year,” Justice Onguto said.

The Trusted Society of Human Rights Alliance sued the Attorney- General Githu Muigai in a suit in which the EACC is listed as an interested party following Mr Kinisu’s February 20 public announcement on re-vetting.

Section 6 of the EACC Act was amended and requires that all employees of the anti-corruption body be subjected to fresh vetting.

According to the lobby, the said Act is unconstitutional since it allegedly aims at “extra judicially punishing a certain class of people which would be discriminatory to the employees.”

They said through lawyer Kioko Kilukumi that re-vetting EACC’s employees would be an unfair labour practice since they had already passed through such a process and that a number of them may unfairly lose their jobs.

Mr Kilukumi told the judge that the group had on November 23, 2015 challenged the said law in a case which the AG had failed to respond to date.

The case will be heard on April 19.