Judge Aaron Ringera (pictured) on Tuesday flatly refused to resign during a confrontation with the Kenya Anti-Corruption commission advisory board.He said Parliament, which last week declared his reappointment by President Kibaki for a second five-year term as KACC boss illegal, had no powers to sack him.
Only the courts can declare the Presidents move illegal and annul the reappointment, he is said to have told members of the board during a charged meeting at the commissions headquarters at Integrity Centre, Nairobi.
Mr Ringera also indicated that the commission will not pay for an advertisement inviting applicants for the posts of KACC director and two assistant directors, sources familiar with the deliberations said.
The sources asked not to be named because of rules of confidentiality.
The KACC director must authorise the advertisement for the commission to pay. The board will now meet next week when it is expected to decide how to go around the issue of advertising the jobs and endorse minutes of its deliberations for presentation to Parliament. This is likely to reignite the tug of war between Mr Ringera and MPs who have threatened to kill KACC by denying it funding for this financial year.
Contacted, Mr Ringera refused to comment on the days drama, simply responding, No, thank you!
Mr Ringera stayed on as director, as did deputy director Fatuma Sichale, even after MPs annulled a gazette notice on their appointments and resolved that the President, in reappointing them without consulting the board and Parliament, had broken the law.
Earlier in the day, some board members had said that Judge Ringera and Ms Sichale had indicated that they were reconsidering their tenure. According to those reports, the pair had hinted that they had heard the voice of Kenyans and were not ready to antagonise the public.
The board meeting, attended by all but two members, approved an advertisement for the position of director and two assistant directors.
It was Justice Ringeras first day at Integrity Centre since Parliament voted against his reappointment. The board had decided to talk to the two and urge them to step aside and save the institution.
Their continued stay would anger Parliament, which could, in turn, vote to starve the agency of cash or dissolve it altogether, according to the sources. The House Committee on Implementation has given President Kibaki 60 days to revoke the reappointment, if the two do not resign.
Mr Ringera and Ms Sichale have been under public pressure to resign from the commission following the House decision.
Reapply for jobs
Some staff of the commission, who spoke to the Nation said their two bosses should reapply for their jobs and be subjected to a rigorous interview for renewal of their contracts.
They pointed to the precedent set when two other assistant directors, Dr John Mutonyi whose term was renewed as an assistant director in charge of Investigations and Asset recovery and Mr Wilson Shollei who was promoted to become an assistant director in charge of Finance and Administration, were appointed through a competitive process.
This was in accordance with the provisions Section 8 (3) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act.
On Tuesday, the directors and board members did not brief journalists after the meeting that ended at around 7pm.
Earlier, board chair Okongo OMogeni said the new KACC directors the board intended to recruit will have to do with a 35 per cent pay cut.
Speaking to journalists after the launch of Legal Aid Awareness Week, Mr OMogeni said Mr Ringera, Ms Sichale and Dr Wanjala were also free to reapply for the positions.
Daily Nation
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