Maraga: Ruto's anti-graft taskforce is cosmetic and deceptive

Former Chief Justice David Maraga he attended a court on July 16, 2025. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]

Former Chief Justice David Maraga has dismissed President William Ruto’s formation of an anti-corruption task force as a mere sugarcoating strategy meant to hoodwink Kenyans.

Speaking in an exclusive interview on KTN News on Sunday, Maraga said that the formation of the task force is a duplication of roles.

“The setting up of a multi-agency task force is cosmetic. That's a PR exercise. In fact, it's a deception. It's just woodwinking the Kenyans,” Maraga opined.

The former CJ noted that the government already established institutions to deal with corruption, and all they needed was support.

“We have institutions which have been given a constitutional mandate to deal with corruption,” he pointed out.

“So I mean the corruption must be fought and be fought in the way that is established by the constitution, so that Kenyans can have their public funds directed to the areas where they are supposed to be spent on.”

He further weighed in on the president’s latest remarks on alleged distortion by Members of Parliament.

“He says some members of Parliament are demanding money from the executive. We are keen to know who these members of Parliament are who are demanding millions. We are particularly keen to know from whom they were demanding the millions,” he said.

He asserted that confirming the president’s allegations could be difficult since he is a consumer of “raw intelligence”, urging the president to tell the EACC the source of information.

Maraga has urged relevant agencies to step up the fight against corruption.

“So corruption is not going to be fought by task forces. Corruption is going to be fought by the EACC carrying out its investigations, the CID carrying out their investigations properly, the DPP preferring the correct judges, and knowing how many people should be judged in one file and things like that,” he added.

He has urged the MPS to stand their ground, not to be compromised by the executive while executing their mandates.

Rooting for his presidential bid, Maraga has vowed not to interfere with the arms of government if he becomes president, but instead demand accountability from them.

The former CJ has shunned tribal politics, banking on Kenyans' financial support to fund his presidential campaigns.