President William Ruto now says he is ready for talks to root out corruption from the three arms of government, following his incessant attacks against the judiciary.
Speaking in Tinderet, Nandi County on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, Ruto said he is ready to hold talks with the judiciary and the legislature regarding corruption.
"Chief Justice Martha Koome said we need talks, and I have accepted. We have to fight corruption by all means. This is the year we are going to sort out corruption in Kenya. I am ready for talks between the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. I am ready for the conversation on how we are going to deal with vested interests, incompetence, and especially corruption whether it is in the judiciary, legislature or the executive because it is derailing and sabotaging the potential of Kenya," Ruto stated.
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"I welcome the conversation and I am going to lead from the front so that we can deal with the monster that is destroying our country. We are going to deal with those who benefit from the status quo, those who have taken hostage the universal health coverage, who do not want us to change the system, to make it transparent. We are going to have a conversation about the people who want the status quo in our housing programme," he added.
Koome responds to Ruto
This comes a day after Chief Justice Martha Koome faulted Ruto for criticising the judiciary by claiming some judicial officers are bribed to issue orders against government projects.
Speaking on Monday, January 15, 2024, Koome said remarks by Ruto that he would disobey court orders he perceives to have been issued through corruption, could cause a constitutional crisis.
"It is regrettable that the leadership of the executive and legislature in their recent public declarations have threatened not to obey court orders. These threats and declarations are extremely serious and a monumental assault on the Constitution, the rule of law and the very stability of the nation and can lead to chaos and anarchy in our motherland,” Koome said.
According to Koome, the attacks by the President amounted to harassment and intimidation of judicial officers.
"When judges are attacked publicly and they are hearing live matters, they feel intimidated, they feel harassed, they feel like they are being ordered to rule in a certain way. Actually, they get embarrassed. We have a principle in law called sub judice, when the matter is pending in court, in as much as possible, let us not discuss it in the public domain because the judges are not in that public domain," Koome stated.
Koome urged that all complaints against magistrates and judges be channelled through the Judicial Service Commission, to pave the way for proper investigations and a fair hearing.
