Governors are innocent until proven guilty

I know that DPP Noordin Haji has been pushing for governors who are charged in a court of law to step aside, but his position is based upon a misapprehension of the Constitution and the law. His argument might be logical and understandable, but it's not the law.  

There is no law that compels a governor to step aside if he or she is arrested and charged in court with any offence. Reason? Everybody is presumed innocent until otherwise pronounced guilty by a court of law. The mere fact that a state officer, and a governor for that matter, has been arrested, does not mean that he or she has been convicted.

Secondly, the Constitution is very clear. A governor is an elected state officer. He serves on the mandate of the people. So until there is a conviction and a decision is made to impeach the governor on account of that conviction, then there can be no justification to claim that governors arrested on suspicion of committing a crime must step aside.

So, until such time as the Constitution is amended, the call or desire that governors must not go back to their offices does not have any force of the law.

There is absolutely no logic in the DPP’s argument. Let’s not blow hot and cold. We had a President (Uhuru Kenyatta) and Deputy President (William Ruto) who were facing very serious cases at the International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands. Did they resign? No. They continued to serve in office. In fact, they were elected when they had just been charged.

Locally, the Constitution says you can continue holding office until you lose the last avenue of appeal. The last avenue of appeal is the Supreme Court, so there is no justification for someone to step aside.

Law is a component of what has been promulgated. It is not what might appear to be logical for someone sitting in an office.

Somebody’s thinking and desire that a governor and other elected leaders step aside when charged is not the law.

The lawyer spoke to the Star