Badly understaffed State Law office losing staff as PSC fights AG Muturi's reforms

Source: Capital FM Kenya
Author: Bruhan Makong, Irene Mwangi, Phidel Kizito, Amukohe Yvonne

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 12 - Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has revealed that the Attorney General's office is operating at just two-thirds of the staff needed.

The office has a shortage of 602 staff, many of them state counsels, needed to help Attorney General Justin Muturi to defend the government ministries and agencies in court.

The auditor also revealed the mass exit of 103 staff in a year as the competent staff exited to join other arms of government and private law firms paying better perks.

"In the circumstances (staff shortage), the mandate of advising government ministries, departments, constitutional commissions, independent offices and State corporations on legislative and other legal matters may not be achieved," Gathungu said.

The news comes at a time when Muturi is locked in a fight with the Public Service Commission over more staff, and better pay packets for officers in the State Law Office

Muturi managed to get MPs to agree to the far-reaching reforms to boost his office's capacity. The Law Society of Kenya backed these personnel reforms, proposing an advisory board domiciled in Muturi's office to oversee hiring, promotions, and human resource issues.

However, the PSC has been blocking his agenda, in part as payback for Muturi exposing the commission's lethargy and negligence in staffing what should be the biggest law firm in the country -- the State Law Office.

The staff shortage has seen the government pay millions to connected law firms costing taxpayers millions.

Now, the country's Auditor General has exposed the details on why Muturi needs more staff - the PSC is the weak link.

In his strategy for the next five years, Muturi said he needed 512 state counsels, 42 accountants, 29 records management officers, 26 drivers, 25 office administrative staff, and 20 support staff.

There are only 424 state counsel working to defend Kenya domestically and abroad, making it inevitable that the AG has to find staff to help him defend the government in court, and to advise public officers to avoid blunders that invite litigation.

Also hit with the staff shortage is the Business Registration Service, which needs 62 staff.

Two top officials had been on acting roles for more than six months, against the public service rules.

"Although, the payment of acting allowance had stopped, the officers were still acting and the positions had not been substantively filled at close of the financial year. In the circumstances, the Service may not achieve its core mandate of administering laws relating to incorporation, registration, operation and management of companies, partnerships and firms," the Auditor General said in her report.

The State Law office has 110 extra clerical officers, whom the PSC continues to keep on the payroll, raising questions about how the commission assesses staff needs.

The urgency for more staff and better facilities to match those of the law firms hired by litigants is more apparent, as the Auditor General revealed that in Eldoret, for example, government secrets "are stored in sacks" due to inadequate storage facility and an ill-equipped registry.

"The offices were congested and files containing confidential information were stored in sacks. This posed challenges in storing information and retrieval of bulky files used by the public trustees, marriages and civil litigation. In the circumstances, the security of confidential information could not be confirmed," the Auditor General said.

Muturi managed to get KSh250 million last year to upgrade the office for the company registries.

As he takes the services of the Attorney General's office to the counties, he will need more money to digitise and upgrade the offices to ensure efficient services.

The need to devolve the services is to deal with rogue deputy county commissioners who fail to submit marriage returns on time.

For instance, the Auditor General found that 19 out of 34 deputy county commissioners failed to surrender their returns.

Also, some rogue agents collected money on behalf of the State offices and pocketed the money instead of surrendering it to the government.

Gathungu also indicted Muturi for failing to set up county offices as required by the law.

However, Muturi in his strategy has prioritised setting up more county offices to enable entrepreneurs and investors to do business in all parts of the country.