City lawyer seeks to kick out Ruto advisors, force them to refund taxpayers' money

The fate of President William Ruto’s legal advisor's job is now in the hands of the Judges after a case has been filed questioning their work, pay and criteria used to select them.

Nairobi based lawyer Suiyanka Lempaa in his case filed before Justice Mwamuye claims that the positions are being abused to shelve rejects and reward cronies.

The lawyer says no one knows what the work of the advisors is and how important it is to the country as the government have other technocrats and Principal Secretaries whose work is cut out in the law and similar to theirs.

“There was no information provided to the public about the intention to create the office, views of the public were never sought about the need for or viability of the offices; and generally, there was no transparency in the creation of or recruitment of persons to fill the offices,” argues Lempaa.

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READ: Burden of advisers: Ruto's bloated team of 20 advisers drain Sh1 billion from taxpayers

Lempaa states that the law does not allow any hiring at the State House other than the positions reserved to personal employees of the President.

He wants the court to revoke the appointments and force all the advisors to refund all the money they have earned.

When President William Ruto formed the government, he promised to reduce the number of presidential advisers as part of his austerity measures.

However, Ruto now has at least 20 advisers with some of them serving at the level of Cabinet Secretaries while others are at the level of Principal Secretaries, gobbling up more than Sh1 billion to run their offices annually.

The question being raised is whether the President needs all these advisers, yet he has Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and technocrats in the relevant ministries who are best suited to perform most of the duties assigned to the advisors.

ALSO READ: Ruto's advisers in eye of a storm for failing him

In less than one year, however, the presidential advisers have increased from about seven to 20, with more likely to join the team, especially with the broad-based arrangement in which the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition is working with the ODM party.

This is a stark contrast to former President Mwai Kibaki, who had only three advisers during his second term, who included Prof Kivutha Kibwana, the adviser on constitutional and youth affairs and Raphael Tuju, who served as the adviser on media affairs.

Ruto’s advisers include: Makau Mutua, Moses Kuria, David Ndii, Monica Juma, Karisa Nzai, Edward Kisiangani, Joseph Boinnet, Jaoko Oburu, Silvester Kasuku, Harriette Chiggai, Ali Somane, Abdi Guliye, Steven Otieno, Dominic Menjo, Nancy Laibuni, Augustine Cheruiyot, Kennedy Ogeto, Mohammed Hassan, Henry Kinyua and Joe Ager.

Prof Mutua who is the latest to join the Ruto administration after being appointed as a senior adviser for constitutional affairs, is a longtime ally of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and has served as his political adviser for many years.