LSK President Faith Odhiambo Explains Why She Rejected Ruto’s Appointment

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo has disclosed why she rejected President William Ruto’s appointment as a member of an independent task force to audit Kenya’s debt.

Speaking during an interview with Ramogi TV on Saturday, December 21, the lawyer explained that the appointment contravened the law as there was no constitutional provision for such as task force.

According to her, the debt auditing task force would lead to a duplicate of the role performed by other government agencies and further lead to wastage of public funds.

She further revealed that the appointment could have attracted legal consequences as a section of Kenyans would have gone to court to oppose it.

“We were going to enter into a job that we could not handle because even in the letter that we wrote to the president, we explained that such a task force would prompt opposition from Kenyans,” she stated.

“I do not want to be in a task force where I will be doing someone else’s work at the same time there is nothing meaningful that we would have done,” Odhiambo added.

In the wake of the anti-finance bill demonstrations, President Ruto established a Presidential Taskforce on Forensic Audit of Public Debt.

In a gazette notice dated July 5, the task force was mandated to scrutinise Kenya’s debt management practices and ensure transparency and accountability in public finances.

Odhiambo was among the eight members of the task force appointed by the Head of State to scrutinise the country’s debt and come up with resolutions to manage it.

The team would be led by Nancy Onyango who was appointed as the chairperson of the task force while Luis Franceschi would deputise her.

However, a day later, Odhiambo turned down the appointment on grounds that it was unconstitutional and therefore illegal.

“Taking cognisance of the provisions of Article 229 of the constitution and the interpretation of the said provisions by the court, it is our considered view that the establishment of the task force is unconstitutional,” she noted.