I'm Ready- Ruto Accepts CJ Martha Koome's Call For Talks

President William Ruto has responded to Chief Justice Martha Koome's goal of setting up a dialogue between the Judiciary and the Executive by announcing that he was willing to hold talks with the CJ as well as the two Speakers of Parliament to possibly end the row that has seen the government verbally choke the Judiciary.

Speaking during the commissioning of Tinderet Integrated Technical and Trainers College, Nandi County on Tuesday, January 16, President Ruto said the talks were necessary in the war against corruption in the country.

According to the Head of State, the Judiciary was littered with corruption, incompetence and vested interests owing to a few 'corrupt' individuals who were blocking his plans for developing the country.

"Chief Justice Martha Koome said we need talks, and I have accepted. We have to fight corruption by all means. This is the year we are going to sort out corruption in Kenya. I am ready for talks between the executive, the judiciary and the legislature.

Chief Justice Martha Koome looking at her laptop during a past court session. /FILE

"I am ready for the conversation on how we are going to deal with vested interests, incompetence, and especially corruption whether it is in the judiciary, legislature or the executive because it is derailing and sabotaging the potential of Kenya," Ruto stated.

The President however issued a condition that the talks should involve all relevant stakeholders.

"I welcome the conversation and I am going to lead from the front so that we can deal with the monster that is destroying our country.

"We are going to deal with those who benefit from the status quo, those who have taken hostage the universal health coverage, who do not want us to change the system, to make it transparent. We are going to have a conversation about the people who want the status quo in our housing programme," he added.

On Monday, January 15, CJ Koome revealed that the judiciary had written to President Ruto seeking to address concerns he raised against some judges.

President Ruto has in recent days mounted a war against the judiciary, accusing some unnamed “corrupt” judges of working with the opposition to block his government’s projects.

Tearing into President Ruto and the Executive leadership, the Chief Justice slammed his and other declarations by his allies to go against court orders, warning of consequences that threaten to spiral the country into chaos.

"It is regrettable that the leadership of the Executive and the Legislature in the recent public declarations have threatened not to obey court orders because of corruption. These threats and declarations are extremely serious and a monumental assault to the Constitution. It is also an assault to the rule of law and the ability of the nation and can lead to chaos and anarchy in our motherland," she addressed.

She termed their declaration that they will no longer obey court orders and the subsequent actual defiance of the orders granted by the courts amount to contempt of court, adding that "if this course is allowed to continue unabated, we are on the precipice of a constitutional crisis that can lead to untold civil strife. The Judiciary and the JSC will not be part of it."

"When judges are attacked publicly and they are hearing live matters, they feel intimidated, they feel harassed, they feel like they are being ordered to rule in a certain way. They get embarrassed.

"We have a principle in law called sub judice, when the matter is pending in court, in as much as possible, let us not discuss it in the public domain because the judges are not in that public domain," she added.

CJ Koome thus pleaded with politicians to stop discussing live matters in public to allow the judges and judicial officers to engage with the matters objectively and deal with those matters according to the evidence and according to the law.

Nonetheless, she assured that the JSC has prepared a draft of complaints or petition processing regulations which will subsequently be submitted for deliberations before the National Assembly.

President William Ruto and Chief Justice Martha Koome on Friday, November 4, 2022. /FILE