CID blames Government Printer official for illegal insert

By Cyrus Ombati

The illegal insertion of the words "national security" into the Proposed Constitution was done at the Government Printer, a probe into the issue has revealed.

The investigation indicated unidentified people influenced an officer in charge of studio to insert the words.

The Criminal Investigations Department, which investigated the incident, recommended the officer in-charge of the studio be dealt with administratively pending forensic investigation on the computers recovered from the office of another senior officer at the Government Printer.

The Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko disclosed the findings yesterday on behalf of Attorney General Amos Wako, as he made public parts of the investigation report.

Mr Wako said in the statement he would subject the investigation file for an independent review and evaluation before he makes his decision.

This means Kenyans will have to wait a bit longer before the Government sheds more light on the issue.

Authentic version

The findings of the investigation also exonerated the AG, saying "he carried out his mandate faithfully and had forwarded to the Government Printer an authentic version of the Proposed Constitution without making any changes on its substance".

The detectives investigating the case wanted to know who inserted the words "national security" in the Bill of Rights, Article 24 sub-section (1) d of the proposed law.

And after conducting investigation that lasted more than two months, the team handed over the report to Wako last Friday.

Mr Gideon Kimilu, who is the head of Investigations Bureau at the CID headquarters, led the investigation.

Wako said yesterday the issue was brought to his attention on May 10 following claims that there were two versions of the Proposed Constitution of Kenya, 2010 printed by the Government Printer in circulation.

"The critical difference between the two versions was that in one (the altered one) Article 24 (1) d had been illegally, mischievously and possibly with ill-intent, altered to include the words national security," read part of the statement.

He said the words were not part of the original final copy his office forwarded to the Government Printer on May 4 in camera ready form.

On being informed of the alteration, Wako called a Government Printer official and directed him to stop printing the changed version of the Proposed Constitution before sending him a letter to that effect.