Dorcas Oduor promised to address emerging concerns around public participation, a requirement based on which courts have annulled most legislations drafted by the State.

President William Ruto’s nominee for Attorney General has promised to help the Executive and Parliament  overcome embarrassing nullifications of legislation by courts.

Dorcas Oduor, who appeared before the National Assembly Appoitments Committee on Friday, promised to address emerging concerns around public participation, a requirement based on which courts have annuled most legislations drafted by the State.

Oduor told the vetting committee chaired by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula she will address the matter and offer a way forward to address the tiff between courts and the legislative Houses of Parliament on bills declared unconstitutional.

Bills recently declared unconstitutional over failing to meet the constitutional threshold include the Finance Act 2023, the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and the Housing Levy.

“It is a concern if bills are being declared unconstitutional when the AG has contributed,” she told lawmakers.

“If approved, I will find out why they have been found unconstitutional, and I will also advise that whenever we come up with a bill, it meets the constitutional requirements,” Oduor suggested.

She proposed that Parliament considers a Public Participation Bill to put in place a framework guiding the constitutionallly-mandated exercise.

“I think there’s a need for a policy to give guidelines and regulations on what public participation is,” she said.

“It is an area that needs urgent attention,” she opined. 

Managing legal fees

Oduor noted that the public participation requirements cuts across bills from across all arms of government and hence the need for clarify to unlcock the preveiling stalemate.

“Most of the contents of these bills contain new jurisprudence not only for the Executive but also for the Judiciary. I take it as a testing time,” she said adding that the issue may be “volatile” but “the law will [be] settled”.

The nominee also promised to ensure the country doesn’t incur unnecessary expenses in legal fees by approving watertight cases once approved into office.

Oduor insisted that she will be hands on in advising Ministries, Departments and Authorities on how they should deal with court matters and consider alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

“If I’m losing a case because I have a bad case, it would be my responsibility as the Attorney General to make sure that before we go to court, I relook at the cases that we have, I try to mitigate the risk of going to court,” she stated.

The nominee emphasized the essence on risk assessment when filling cases in court on behalf of the government to protect the citizenry from incurring costs on flimsy cases.

Oduor however noted the need to enhance the capacity of the State Law Office saying under capacity often results to inadequate representation.

“I will look at my capacity and the expertise that I have within the Office of the Attorney General,” she said.

“In the ODPP, we initially had private Council assisting us, but with the time, we looked at the capacities that we have, we have to enhance the capacity of our state council,” Oduor noted, alluding to her role as the Principal Deputy to the Public Prosecutor.  By Irene Mwangi, Capital News