The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) has come out to address Raila’s demands for immediate resignation of key Ruto appointees
Speaking during a press conference, UDA Secretary General Cleophas Malala defended President Ruto’s idea to appoint Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) board chair Anthony Mwaura and Kenya Power board chair Joy Mdivo to party positions.
According to Malala, President Ruto did not break any law in appointing the two, citing that the two were not state officers despite serving as board chairs in government positions.
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The Secretary General further claimed that the constitution doesn’t define the two as state officers insisting thatbstate corporations are not public offices and so is the holder of the office.
“We are fully aware of the definitive provision of the law on who constitutes a public officer. We are guided by judicial precedence that has found and held that chairpersons of state corporations are not public officers within the definition of Article 260 of the Constitution.”
In addition, the SG said that the appointments were made directly by the President and therefore the call for resignation of Ruto appointees is baseless.
“Importantly the requirement for one to become a board chairperson under the law is that one should not be a public officer. Board chairpersons are appointed by the president discretionally and they are not enumerated as employees of the institutions that they chair.”
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This comes after Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) called on the resignation of the two after President William Ruto appointed them as the chair of the National Elections Board and Internal Dispute Resolution Committee respectively to lead the party elections starting this month.
“We demand that all those people who have been named as UDA officials must immediately resign from public service. There is no way they will serve two masters, the public and the UDA party.”