Nkaissery appoints Firearms Licencing Board after Joho gun confrontations

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery has appointed members of the Firearms Licensing Board whose core mandate is to vet  firearm licence applicants and revoke firearms licences.

Nkaissery’s move, however, appeared aimed at countering Governor Ali Hassan Joho’s argument in court that he could not surrender his guns because the board mandated to do so was not in place at the time the government ordered him to surrender his license.

The Mombasa Governor went to court after he was ordered to surrender his guns on grounds that his licence had been revoked. Joho argued that the Chief Licensing Officer and Nkaissery could not withdraw his license because that responsibility is vested on the Firearms Licensing Board, which was yet to be formed.

High Court Judge George Odunga stopped police and the government from arresting Joho pending the hearing of his petition.

But in what appears like a hasty move to counter Joho’s argument, Nkaissery has now published a special gazette notice appointing a 9-member firearms licensing board. The notice is dated March 15th, the same day Joho went to court.

Nkaissery has appointed Major General (Rtd.) Enock Sasia as the chairman of the board. Other members of the board are: Lilian Kiambia, Stanely Omucheyi, Bernice Gathegu, Anthony Wahome, William Singoei, George Waiguru, James Ngului and Samuel Kimaru as the Secretary

Currently there are 6,500 licensed gun holders in the country and the list for those waiting to be vetted by the board is growing by the day given that there has been no board to vet applicants.

Applicants will have to comply with the Firearms Act Cap 114 Laws of Kenya after filling necessary forms, going through police vetting and paying an application fee of 2,000 shillings.

The applicant must obtain the application form from the Firearms Bureau in Nairobi.