The Supreme Court has adjourned Former Police Commissioner Toami Kulunga’s appeal against his sentencing for contempt to next week Friday. This relates to the contempt case sought by Commissioner, Geoffrey VAKI against him. It is understood that the court is expected to issue further directions next Friday.
Meanwhile, Mr Kulunga has filed a judicial review application at the National Court to challenge several decisions of the National Executive Council (NEC) on his termination. According to Sir Kulunga’s lawyer Loani Henao, the application was filed on Tuesday. The matter was briefly heard in court yesterday and adjourned to August 7 for further hearing. Sir Kulunga, who was convicted recently by the National Court after being found guilty of contempt for failing to reinstate current Police Commissioner Geoffery Vaki, has now filed an application challenging the appointment of Mr Vaki. Sir Kulunga is seeking to declare Mr Vaki’s appointment null and void. Mr Henao said his client seeks to challenge three NEC decisions. The first is on the termination of Sir Kulunga by the NEC on the basis that the NEC did not give Sir Kulunga a chance to explain why he should not be terminated. He said by doing so, the government breached principles of natural justice and erred by just terminating Sir Kulunga without any valid reason. Mr Henao said the second application was to challenge the NEC’s appointment of Mr Vaki as acting police commissioner; the reason being that Mr Vaki’s appointment was not done according to set procedures. The lawyer said one of the procedures was for the government to consult with the Public Service Commission for appointment purposes but that did not happen. "We are saying that the government did not follow the set procedures under laws such as the Police Act and Public Service Management Act," Mr Henao said. He said the relief Sir Kulunga is seeking is for him to be reinstated as police commissioner and declare Mr Vaki’s appointment null and void. Meanwhile, the judicial review application filed by sacked deputy police commissioner operations Simon Kauba was further adjourned to next week. Mr Kabua was also seeking to review the decision of his sacking a month ago by the NEC. He is seeking a temporary stay of the decision once leave is granted for the review of the NEC decision. Comments are closed.
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