Hundreds of Kenyans, some of them well known and others know well their rights have sued the government successfully at a time the AG is saying some of the claims are a product of unlawful arrests and arbitrary shootings.
He is warning that officials found culpable will be held accountable and punished.
He says some of the cases were lost due to absentee witnesses.
That legal awards against the State ballooned to Sh101 billion end of last year over obvious breaches like unlawful sacking, human rights violations, and lawyer fees is a worrying trend for the taxpayer.
It is unacceptable that such missteps are happening with abandon 10 years after Kenya passed a Constitution that got acclaim across the world. One of the key parts of the 2010 Constitution is the Bill of Rights that was expected to help Kenya to score highly on dealing with violations and other breaches.
Worse, the Attorney General Kihara Kariuki says the occurrences are a product of “laissez faire attitude” of officials who sleep on the all-important job of taking care the public, popularly known as Wanjiku.
Why are public officials performing below par while Kenya is brimming with independent agencies that are supposed to advise the government on key and special subjects like rights?
Why should Kenya, for example, pay Sh888 million in three months between June and September last year to compensate survivors who successfully sued the State for cruelty and inhumane treatment?
Hundreds of Kenyans, some of them well known and others know well their rights have sued the government successfully at a time the AG is saying some of the claims are a product of unlawful arrests and arbitrary shootings.
He is warning that officials found culpable will be held accountable and punished. He says some of the cases were lost due to absentee witnesses.
We, however, remind the AG that warnings are some of the utterances in government that have emboldened officials to thrive on half-heartedness because they know the probability of executing the threats are so low.
While the government is a big player and will occasionally lose some of its disputes, we warn the State that Sh100 billion is such a huge figure to be treated lightly and reveals a possibility of having square pegs in round holes.
Further, we urge all government officers, especially the decision-makers that they must be open to advice from experts who handle such cases.
We, therefore, reiterate that officials who dismiss expert advice by virtue of their seniority should also be punished. This is how Kenyan taxpayers will not lose the ongoing Sh769.9 billion cases or trim the awards.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
