NAIROBI, Jan 3 – President William Ruto has vowed to keep on with government’s programs irrespective of the cases filed against it. Ruto pointed out that he respect the judiciary but judicial impunity must stop in Kenya.
Speaking in Nyandarua the head of state said some people bribe courts in order to sabotage his government projects including the housing program and universal health coverage.
“Our judiciary, we respect you but judicial impunity by corrupt judicial officers must stop in Kenya. A few people, two or three people, they have gone to court, bribe the court and that plan was stopped. Road (construction) is stopped, Universal health coverage and housing stopped. We must have a debate on it,” Ruto declared.
While pointing out to some projects that has stalled due to cases filed against it, Ruto appeared to be willing to go against them by order the Principle Secretary of Roads to allocate money to Ndonyo-Njeru-Ithe Road construction project which was stopped by a case filed in court.
“Do you want us to construct Ithe road or we wait for the judiciary to tell us to do it. The judiciary is saying we shouldn’t construct. Should I construct that road or wait for those people (to make a ruling)? Mr PS, allocate money and let’s construct that road,” he ordered.
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The leader of majority in National Assembly Kimani Ichungwah urged the judiciary not to allow to be used to sabotage government’s projects which he believe will benefit the people of Kenya.
Ichungwa: “Let me ask our judicial service not to allow themselves to be used by the cartels that are sabotaging the housing program, the program that allows Kenyans to access universal health coverage.”
History of defying court orders
The Kenya Kwanza administration appears to be rolling sleeves to defy court orders in what they terms “judicial impunity”. This moves echoes Jubilee Administration lead by former president Uhuru Kenyatta who defied many court orders arguing that they were against people’s aspirations.
Among the many instances where the previous regime defied the court order includes failure to swear in the six judges appointed by Judicial Service Commission (JSC) despite two court orders against Uhuru’s defiance.
Another instance where Jubilee administration failed to honour court orders is the blatant refusal to allow the then embattled lawyer Miguna Miguna to return to Kenya. This came after he was deported to Canada following his involvement in swearing in ODM leader Raila Odinga to be the people’s president.
Jubilee administration came into collision once again with the judiciary after President Kenyatta defiantly oversaw the transfer of Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Defence. This came at the backdrop of a court ruling which found this decision to be unconstitutional.
While Ruto had promised to respect and defend the rule of law, including his early morning swearing of the six judges on 14th of September 2022, which Kenyatta had refused to swore in, Ruto appears to be making a U-turn on his promise arguing that some judicial officers are being bribed to sabotage government projects.
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