Chief Justice David Maraga bitterly fought off criticism that the institution he leads was the weakest link in the fight against graft, even as President Uhuru Kenyatta added fuel to the fire against the Judiciary.
Putting up a brave face and and styling Judiciary as helpless in the face of weak evidence, Maraga thought he had acquitted himself, only for the president to come and roll it over on him.
Uhuru reminded the country that he had equally wallowed in similar sense of helplessness before he decided to go back to the drawing board and take charge from the Executive front. He urged Maraga to take a similar approach.
On Thursday, the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said lenient bail and court orders were hampering the purge against the vice. Yesterday, Uhuru claimed that key government projects had stalled due to numerous and coordinated court injunctions.
“I think you have a problem my friend, and it is a problem that you are going to have to deal with one way or the other,” he said while pointing at Maraga.
Before him, Maraga warned against blame games in the graft war, but also accused detectives and State prosecution of presenting weak evidence, hence bungling most cases.
“I understand the public indignation against corruption … we live in this country, as individuals we have ourselves alse suffered from the corruption scourge,” Chief Justice Maragasaid.
In the dock
“Since I am in the dock, I am going to be very candid. The war against corruption is not going to be won by blame games by people who are involved, and some are here, hiring professional bloggers to demonise the Judiciary,” he said.
He was talking of a seemingly coordinated attack against the judiciary which took place on social media platforms most of the day yesterday.
But Uhuru slammed Maraga, reminding him that it was the very courts he presides over that shot down a law that would have regulated bloggers against such practices.
He seemed quite prepared for Maraga: “Just like the rest of us, get used to it,” he told the CJ.
The president urged the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to “reflect and correct areas of weakness” sooner than later.
“The JSC and the wider Judiciary must now ask whether they will clean up the house themselves or whether they are going to have it done for them,” said Uhuru.
Maraga also riled against the popular Friday arrests that built too much pressure on the Judiciary and claims that some orders were “frivolous.”
“The judiciary doesn’t go out there to look for cases. Those people who are aggrieved come to us, we must hear them and if they have no basis dismiss them and uphold them if they have a basis,” he said.
“This war must be won by the application of the of the law … the Constitution guarantees accused person the right to be heard,” he said.
He insisted that the use of technology would aid the war on graft and asked for support for the judiciary ombudsman in investigating complaints against corruption in the Judiciary.
Maraga insisted to magistrates to be more firm with lawyers and not “allow adjournments willy-nilly.”
“Our magistrates and judges, it’s like they have given in to the lawyers to run the show. They have got to take control of the proceedings in court,” he said.
He also read the riot act to lawyers who were handling multiple cases and told accused persons they would not work with their schedule.
“We are not going to allow it,” he said.
He urged DCI George Kinoti to bring concrete evidence as investigators were bungling cases.
“As Chief Justice, we are not going to send anybody who is innocent to prison,” he said.
He also asked DPP Haji to re-look the way he presents cases.
“You put 30 accused persons on one charge sheet, they are represented by 30 lawyers. How long do you think that will take? Those kinds of cases will never move,” he said.
Maraga maintained that the Judiciary was “extremely underfunded”, saying they had received Sh14 billion instead of the Sh31 billion they had asked for.
“If Kenyans want the Judiciary to give them the services they require, we need funding,” he said.
Lack of funding had even hampered access to equipment such as audio recorders, he said.
The CJ said demands such as speeding corruption cases within six months were near impossible.
Separately, Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association reacted bitterly against accusations of being an impediment in the fight against corruption and terrorism.
“We decide cases purely on the basis of evidence placed before us and the applicable law. Further, convicting where there is no evidence is illegal, where there has been evidence the courts have convicted accordingly and there is evidence to this effect ,” Secretary General Derick Kuto said.
Bond and bail
Kuto said bond and bail are considered on a case-to-case basis. He insisted that bond is a constitutional right for every Kenyan and bonding of suspects is a complete departure of the infamous 1980s and early 1990s when bond was perceived to be at the behest of the State.
“Occasionally, parties who come to court may be dissatisfied with decisions rendered by judicial officers. The law deliberately provides for avenues of appeal,” Kuto said.
He urged the public not to fall prey to what he termed as twisted narratives, saying that the war on corruption cannot be won by mud-slinging and chest-thumping but by taking time to understand our constitutional framework and working meticulously within it.
“We will continue to uphold the rule of the law as stipulated by the Constitution of Kenya and we invite our fellow countrymen to seek justice from our courts,” Kuto said.
