I Won’t Be In Office Forever, DPP Haji Tells Off His Critics

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji maintains that persons seeking his ouster from office have nothing on him.

The DPP, in fact, says he is ready to go home if his accusers were to adduce evidence that can convince his employer that he is unsuitable to hold office. “If the President set up a tribunal and the tribunal finds that I have to leave, I am a man of God and believe that God has better plans for me. Hii kiti sio ya mama yangu (This seat doesn’t belong to my mother),” Haji told KBC Channel 1 TV host Jacob Kioria during an interview Wednesday night.

“If PSC (Public Service Commission) feels that I have to go, I cannot be in this seat forever. I recognize that, that’s why I have a term and the term will end.” He said

Haji was responding to the issue of petitions that have been lodged at the PSC by a couple of Kenyans who want him removed as DPP.

There are now a total of five petitions where the Haji’s accusers say he is guilty of alleged abuse of office and non-compliance to Chapter Six of the Constitution of Kenya.

In the first petition, the sister to slain Dutch businessman Tob Cohen, Gabrielle Van Straten is accusing the DPP of mismanaging her late brother’s murder case.

In the second one, businessman Francis Nyaga Njeru accuses Haji of failing to act constitutionally in a Ksh.150 million land case against businessman Ahmed Rashid Jibril and his wife Farah Ali Mohamed.

And in the third petition, Former Jack and Jill proprietor Schon Ahmed Noorani want Haji sacked for ‘mishandling’ case where fellow businessman Rajendra Ratilal Sanghani allegedly failed to repay his debt totaling Kshs.167 million. He says the DPP closed his file prematurely.

In the case linked to the first one, Grace Nginda Ita made an application before the commission to have Haji forced to relinquish his position due to his handling of a case where shares of her late husband Silas M’Mjamiu Ita were ‘fraudulently’ transferred, in a company where slain businessman Tob Cohen owned majority shares.

And in the fifth petition, another Kenyan – Charles Waithaka, wants the PSC to conduct investigations against Haji over what he described as “corruption, favoritism, nepotism, tribalism, gross misconduct and incompetence.”

All of Haji’s accusers are adamant that he has failed the integrity test and is therefore not fit to hold office. The DPP, however, holds a different view and maintains that he is innocent of all accusations leveled against him.

“I have never been involved in corruption. That is just being malicious and I will table my evidence and I will challenge the assertions.” He said

He says the petitioners are only enraged by the feeling that he made wrong decisions, in light of ‘sufficient evidence’ which he ignored. And that’s not true, according to the DPP.

“If you look at most of these, you will see that they are coming from one single party. Some of them they have taken some people I have withdrawn.” He told Kioria

Haji has undertaken to just “like any other Kenyan, I will have my day to answer. It’s not my style to go and shout and make accusations out there. I will answer it in court and at the PSC also.”