A court has ruled that state employees who make offensive comments and end up in court are entitled to legal representation from the Attorney General rather than attorneys at their own cost.
In a case involving former interior CS Fred Matiang’i, high court judge Anthony Mrima ruled that the officials stay firmly protected and will be represented in court by the AG for any offense that does not teeter to criminality.
In this instance, Matiang was sued for his remarks made during a contentious campaign visit in the counties of Kisii and Nyamira during the 2017 presidential election cycle.
He was urging people to vote for Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto to be re-elected for another term at the moment.
Videos of the former CS speaking in his native Kisii surfaced, and it was assumed from their translation that he was threatening to use proscribed ethnic groups from the area against those who disagreed with the political course he was pursuing.
The former CS is said to have made the comments in issue on October 20, 2017.
Additionally, the comments he made against Ruto on October 10 and 11, 2020, bothered the petitioner.
John Kaburi filed a judicial petition to impose penalties on Matiang. Additionally, he asked the judge to bar the AG from representing him in the case.
“It was the Applicant’s case that the 1st Respondent [Matiangí] was sued in his personal capacity and not in his position as the Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government which he held and as such he ought not to be represented by Hon. Attorney General or the Government.”
“The Applicant recounted that the Petition was only calling upon the 1st Respondent to account for his conduct in the context of the inciteful remarks he made in public.”
