Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has refuted claims made by former LSK president Nelson Havi and lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi that dismissed cabinet secretaries are forbidden from holding public offices again.

In his rebuttal, Kuria claimed their comments were misinformed because a dismissal on the grounds of impeachment would result in disciplinary action for the CSs rather than a class action.

PHOTO | COURTESY Moses Kuria 

"As lawyers of (dis)repute, you need to read whatever provisions against the tenets of fair administrative action. If your 'scholarly' arguments are to hold water, the affected persons then have to be taken through a disciplinary process or a court martial. Not a class action," wrote Kuria.

"Otherwise if you are dismissed as a clerk at Safaricom you don't even qualify for a certificate of good conduct. This McCarthyism by you Pharisees MUST STOP."

In response to a gazettement on removing Ruto's 21 CSs, Havi said that the dismissal "means that they are ineligible to hold any public office forever: appointive or elective."

PHOTO | COURTESY Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria

He added that the fired CSs are in the same category as impeached Governors or Judges who have been found unfit to serve.

Top lawyer Ahmednasir also supported Havi's remarks, adding that Ruto's firing was decided after meeting a constitutional threshold and that the CSs cannot hold office again.

"That is a very bold and brave submission and I'm afraid Havi states the law correctly. President Ruto can't reappoint any member of the cabinet because their dismissal under the constitution implied a grave omission or commission," wrote Ahmednasir on X.

"That grave constitutional omission or commission hasn't been erased or addressed in the past week...and can't be addressed in the future. Reappointing any dismissed CS will engulf President Ruto in afresh political crisis and unparalleled constitutional imbroglio."