Relief For Governor Mutua As High Court Suspends Arrest Warrant

The High Court through judge J.A Makau has suspended the arrest warrant issued against Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua over failure to honor summons detailing audit queries.

The warrant was issued last week by the Public Accounts and Investment Committee (PAIC) alleging that the Governor had intentionally forfeited to attend the scheduled meetings.

The committee team wanted the Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai to effect the arrest and hold Governor Mutua Culpable.

Judge Mutua in his ruling stated that the arrest warrant was a breach of the Governor’s constitutional rights hence suspending the arrest warrant.

Read: Senate House Committee Orders For The Arrest Of Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua

Following the arrest warrant, Governor Mutua broke the silence stating that he was away and out of the country with a directive to his lawyers to file the petition against the arrest warrant claiming he had not willingly refused to make an appearance but rather had requested for an adjournment.

“The notice was too short for the petitioners to compile a written response on audit reports concerning three financial years under circumstances where there were only two working days,” the lawyers said.

They ideally went ahead and criticized the move by the PAIC saying that they were aware of Mutua’s absence in the country.

Read Also: Conclude Graft Cases Within Three Months, Governor Mutua Tells Judiciary

“By summoning the first petitioner while away and without adequate notice and issuing a warrant of arrest in a situation where he was understandably unavailable, the first respondent abused its powers to summon and enforce attendance as outlined under Article 125 of the constitution of Kenya 2010,” they said.

The mention of the case has been scheduled for November 18, 2019.

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