Don't blame us if graft cases collapse, says CJ Maraga

Justice William Ouko leads Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu and Chief Justice David Maraga to the Supreme Court before he took oath of office as the new Court of Appeal president on Tuesday. [George Njunge, Standard]

The Judiciary will not take blame for collapse of corruption cases, Chief Justice David Maraga has said.

The head of Judiciary, in his speech during a ceremony to hand over a Court of Appeal President's office yesterday, said courts would not hesitate to release suspects if there was no evidence.

Maraga said if investigators slept on their job, then the courts would not accept to be the punching bags.

“The Judiciary will not be the scapegoat or the whipping boy in war against corruption. Do not expect convictions when cases are weak. The drill is very simple, present a case that meets criminal threshold and expect convictions, but we will not accept blame for weak cases,” said the CJ.

He said this at the backdrop of two major corruption cases – Sh9 billion National Youth Service scam and the contraband sugar import scandal - where suspects have already been arraigned in court.

Justice William Ouko took over as president of the Court of Appeal from Justice Kihara Kariuki, who is now the Attorney General.

The ceremony was, however, crowded with undertones of sour relationship between Parliament and Judiciary.

Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu complained of poor allocation of funds to Judiciary by Parliament.

National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi said Speakers should be kept out of cases before court. Just like judges in appeals, he said, Speakers of both Houses should be left out of decisions made in the House and challenged in court.