Ruto pledges cash for hiring of 36 judges in talks with CJ

After days of knocking and an acerbic war of words, President William Ruto yesterday opened State House doors for Chief Justice Martha Koome who walked in with a begging bowl and secured piece-meal goodies.

Though packaged as a meeting of three co-equal arms of government to discuss corruption, a statement released by State House last night could barely disguise the fact that the Judiciary was the subject of focus.

President William Ruto has been at loggerheads with judges who he accuses of not only being corrupt but also taking bribes to frustrate his development agenda by issuing stay orders against Kenya Kwanza flagship projects.

The Ruto goodies immediately sparked debate on whether the Judiciary was rendering itself at the mercy of the other arms of government while Koome’s backers say the move as a diplomatic win for the administration of justice.

During the meeting, which involved National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula, Koome secured a pledge for additional cash allocation for the hiring of judges and leasing of cars for Judiciary staff.

“To optimise the efficient delivery of service and fight against corruption, the Executive, and the legislature, resolved to support the Judiciary’s request for additional budgetary support to achieve its operations,” said the statement by State House Spokesman Hussein Mohammed.

“Among the areas to be supported are the recruitment of an additional 25 judges of the High Court, 11 judges of Court of Appeal and resources to be provided to conclude the vehicle leasing programme to facilitate the Judiciary’s transport needs,” said State House.

The three bodies further committed to performing their functions in a manner that respects, promotes and enhances the rule of law, institutional independence and respect for court decisions.

But Opposition leader Raila Odinga criticised the meeting terming it “irresponsible.”

Potential compromise

Speaking after commissioning the Maweni Water Project at Manda Primary School in Lamu, Raila expressed concern over potential compromise of the Judiciary and suggested that such discussions should have taken place in a neutral location.

 “The Chief Justice’s decision to meet with the President at the State House is, in our view, an irresponsible move. If there is to be a dialogue, it should occur in a neutral setting,” Raila said while accompanied by a host of ODM leaders in his coastal tour.

The ODM leader said the meeting was an indication that the Judiciary was being compromised by the Executive. “The Judiciary is being held hostage by the Executive, and we have seen this before. We saw it happen under the rule of Moi, and we have tried to caution the CJ not to go to bed with the Executive,” Raila added.

He further termed the move as an unfortunate development, and hoped that the rest of the members of the Judiciary  will not walk that route.

 The meeting follows public pronouncements by the President and the CJ, who said they are ready to meet and resolve the spat between the Judiciary and Executive.

During the meeting, they agreed on a raft of measures aimed at building approaches to fight corruption and enhance accountability.

“Today, at the request of the Judiciary, the President convened the leadership of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary in consultations to deliberate on building approaches to fight corruption, enhance accountability and facilitate the efficient and seamless delivery of services to the people of Kenya,” read a statement issued by State House.

Among the issues discussed was corruption that had permeated all the three arms of government.

“Corruption remains an existential threat to the nation which has permeated the three arms of government, undermining our country’s tremendous development potential and sabotaging the much-needed transformation of our nation,” State House said.

Fights corruption

It added: “Each of the three arms of government commits to enhance service delivery, fight corruption and promote the overall administration of justice to enhance accountability to the people of Kenya.”

 The three arms agreed to individually develop policies, guidelines, regulations and legislative proposals to achieve the objectives of fighting corruption, improving service delivery and enhancing institutional accountability of all government institutions.

The meeting further resolved that within 30 days, each arm of government will submit the proposals to a forum of the National Council of the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) convened by the Chief Justice.

The forum will provide a roadmap for the immediate, medium-term and long-term measures to be undertaken.

Others present during the early morning meeting were Attorney General Justin Muturi, Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu, Solicitor General Shadrack Mose, Council of Governors chairperson Ann Waiguru and acting Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Paul Ndemo.

Others were Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki and Clerk of the National Assembly Samuel Njoroge.

In a media address by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on January 15, the CJ said the commission had reached out to President Ruto for a meeting to discuss any issues they have with the judicial arm.

The president would a day later, welcome the Judiciary’s call for talks, saying it should involve the leadership of the three arms of government and focus on corruption.

“The meeting should be between the Executive (led by Ruto), judiciary (led by Koome) and legislature (led by Speakers). I am ready for the conversation on how we will deal with vested interests, incompetence and corruption,” Ruto said in a Rally at Nandi County last week.

Ruto has in recent days waged a vicious war against the Judiciary, threatening to disregard court orders he claimed were motivated by ‘judicial impunity’.

In a rebuttal, Koome, termed the threats as “extremely serious and a monumental assault on the Constitution,” the rule of law and the very stability of the nation which can lead to chaos and anarchy in the country.