UNAPOKUWA NA MADARAKA MAKUBWA - CHUKUA SOMO HAPA

KATIBU MKUU KIONGOZI AKABWA KOO NA MORENO OCAMPO
Kwa Moreno Ocampo anajua kabisa kupata chanzo cha umafia nchini Kenya anza kwa mtu ndani ya Ikulu ambaye inavyoonekana Katibu Mkuu wa Raisi Kenya alikuwa anadhani yeye ni untouchable. Hebu soma alivyojisikia baada ya kuwa miongoni mwa watuhumiwa sita wa ICC:
Courtesy of The Standard la Kenya:
Ocampo's blot on Muthaura’s enviable public service career
By MUTINDA MWANZIA

Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura is one man who knows all that goes down or up within Government.

He is the nerve centre of the Public Service and acts as the link between President Kibaki and the rest of the Government.

And he goes by many titles: Head of Civil Service, Secretary to the Cabinet, and Secretary to the Presidency.

For all the powers he has enjoyed even during the 2007/2008 post-election crisis period, few expected his name would be on the list of suspects the International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo wants tried for crimes against humanity.

Ambassador Muthaura must have been at a loss when he heard Mr Moreno-Ocampo read out his name on Wednesday."The suggestion that I have done anything to warrant criminal investigation is manifest nonsense. It amounts to an unwarranted slur on my reputation and is both unfair and unjustified," was how he reacted to the news.But what was Moreno-Ocampo after by naming Muthaura? That is the million-dollar question, and the first answer that comes to mind is that the Chief Prosecutor was basically trying to hit at the nerve centre of the Government.

But what powers does Muthaura hold in his hands? Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura has had an illustrious career in Government beginning as a DO and rising up the ranks including serving as country representative in foreign countries.
As Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Muthaura is at the top of the administrative hierarchy, and all senior public servants including State House officials, Police and Provincial Administration chiefs report to him.

He also chairs meetings for Permanent Secretaries and thus wields a lot of influence in all Government ministries. Muthaura chairs the National Security Advisory Committee and this is the organ Moreno-Ocampo claims the Head of the Civil Service used to play a role during the violence. The committee acts as a central intelligence-sharing unit, whose role is to advise and co-ordinate security measures within the country.

Its membership is drawn from intelligence committees, Provincial Administration as well as other security agencies.Muthaura is one person who has access to the President at will.He has enjoyed an illustrious career and his inclusion in the list of ICC suspects must be one of the saddest moments: if the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II judges do summon him to The Hague, it has the potential of ending an enviable career with a bad send-off.Calls premature President Kibaki has already put his foot down and said the ICC case has not yet begun, and thus calls for Muthaura and other officials to leave office were premature.

According to the prosecutor, Muthaura as chairman and member of the National Security Committee was responsible for ensuring the implementation of decisions of the committee, and directing the provincial and district security committees on strategic and operational matters.

"By virtue of his position in the security committee, Muthaura exercised additional authority over (former Police Commissioner Hussein) Ali and the Kenyan Police Forces," alleged Moreno-Ocampo.He added that in their positions as chairman and member of the committee, Muthaura and Mr Ali had formal access to intelligence gathered through a vertical structure organised from the ground level (district and provincial levels) all the way up to the central level.

The Cabinet Secretary is not new to controversy, and in 2008 caused a stir in the newly formed Grand Coalition Government when he sent out a memo asserting that the Vice-President was the principal assistant to the President.The memo dated August 15, and copied to the PM, also put the running of some ministries, including hiring and firing function, in the hands of PSs. Ministers from ODM, who wanted the PM to have more say in the running of ministries, protested at the memo, which they said attempted to put control of ministries in the hands of Permanent Secretaries. Some read this as an attempt to clip the wings of the PM and to slow his duties as enshrined in the Constitution.

Humble officer

Muthaura, a career civil servant and diplomat in the Kanu regime, was appointed to head the civil service in 2003 and soon emerged as one of the powerful faces around the President.For a man who rose from a humble DO and served in various positions both in the country and abroad, Moreno-Ocampo’s move to list him as one of the suspects of the post-election violence is certainly not the best Christmas gift the 64-year-old wished for.