Ruto's Appointment Of 6 Judges Was Rushed- Raila
Raila alleged that the Executive under President Ruto was pushing to own the Judiciary.
Marvin Chege 
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has said that the appointment of the six Court of Appeal judges who were nominated during the regime of former president Uhuru Kenyatta, by President William Ruto, was done in a hurry.
Speaking during a parliamentary group meeting on Friday, September 16, Raila alleged that the Executive under President Ruto was pushing to own the Judiciary.
Citing illegalities amounting to bribery, Raila said that not only did Ruto rush to appoint the judges but he also rushed to allocate money to the Judiciary.
"There’s clearly a push by the Executive to own the Judiciary through illegal actions that amount to bribery. That is the reason for the rush to appoint the 6 judges and to allocate money to the Judiciary," he said in a veiled attack on the president.
President William Ruto with the recently-appointed Court of Appeal judges. /WILLIAM RUTO
During his speech at Kasarani Stadium on Tuesday, September 13, Ruto promised to increase the budgetary allocation to the Judiciary by an extra Ksh3 billion every year for the period of his tenure.
"Our campaign for financial independence of the Judiciary has paid off with the implementation of the Judiciary Fund, on July 1st this year. My administration will scale up the budgetary allocation to the judiciary by an additional Ksh3 billion annually for the next 5 years. These resources will support the bottom-up scaling of justice by increasing the number of small claims courts from the current 25 to 100," he said.
Ruto had appointed the six judges; four Court of Appeal judges and two Environment and Land Court judges, on Tuesday, September 13, on the same day he promised to do so during his inauguration speech that he would appoint them, among his first batch of orders.
Raila's Attacks On Supreme Court Judges
Raila then continued his relentless assault on the seven judges at the Supreme Court who threw away the presidential petition that sought to invalidate Ruto's win over him in the 2022 August 9 general elections.
He singled out Justice Isaac Lenaola for alleged threats against activist and Busia senator, Okiya Omtatah, who claimed that the judge threatened him via WhatsApp.
"We have also come from a Judiciary which invested in intimidation. Today Supreme Court is threatening those talking about the judgement.
"In fact, Justice Isaac Lenaola is publicly accused of threatening Senator Okiya Omtatah with ruination over his stand on the court judgement," Raila claimed.
He also accused Chief Justice Martha Koome of allegedly subverting the will of the people by not discussing the judgement amongst themselves, citing a funeral she attended in Mwiteria, Imenti North in Meru county on Wednesday, September 7, after the ruling where she termed the ruling as an inspiration to other countries in Africa and beyond the continent.
"Today the Supreme Court is threatening those who petitioned the case before them. Chief Justice Martha Koome has also stopped Kenyans from discussing the judgement. She went to her village to defend the verdict even before they released the full judgement. She said the ruling was inspired by God, I say It was inspired by the devil.
"CJ Koome's actions are clearly sycophantic, she has demeaned the dignity of the office of CJ. In less than a year, she has destroyed what her predecessors achieve in 10 years," he claimed.
At the time, she stated that the apex court gained respect across the divide, with other leaders borrowing a leaf from Kenya's governance and leadership systems, where there is no interference between the different arms of government.
"We are being respected now not only in the region but even in the whole world. They are looking upon Kenya for leadership and also for independent institutions, especially the institution of Judiciary.
"This is not because of my power, but this is because of the faithful God that I serve," Koome said.
What Raila Will Do Next
Raila stated that they were embarking on three actions in the coming weeks - saving the Judiciary which is offering itself to state capture, transforming IEBC to make it ready to hold a credible election and protecting the legislature from offering itself to state capture.
"We have had the worst election since the return of multiparty politics in our country. At the presidential level, it is not possible to tell whether we had elections at all. At the lower levels, I believe a number of our people were rigged out to pave way for a UDA majority," Raila lamented.
Raila also complained regarding the nature of words that were used by the Supreme Court judges in their verdict, terming them too strong for their taste and indicative of their attitude being that of thuggery and cynicism.
"The words they used against us have never been used in our courts even in the dark days of one-party rule and state capture of the Judiciary.
"CJ Koome described our case, presented by the country's finest legal minds, as not more than hot air, wild goose chase and hearsay evidence, whenever judges result to insults, it is the result of a disturbed conscience," he stated.
Neither CJ Koome nor Justice Lenaola have responded to the comments as of yet.
