President Ruto renews feud with Judiciary in row over projects
President William Ruto addresses residents after laying the foundation stone for the construction of an affordable housing project in Pioneer in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, on January 9, 2024.
President William Ruto has revived his wrangles with the judiciary over “corrupt” court rulings hardly a week after extending an olive branch to the State organ, asking it to support his development agenda.
The Head of State vowed to firmly deal with “corrupt” judges, whom he accused of having teamed up with his political rivals to frustrate his bid to address the challenges of unemployment and provide affordable housing and healthcare to Kenyans.
“[It has been suggested to me] that the previous regime had a budget to bribe the courts but I want to categorically tell you that my government will not spend a single cent on bribery,” said Dr Ruto, while defending the housing initiative and Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
He made the remarks in his Uasin Gishu home tuff when he launched affordable housing projects in Kapsuswa and Pioneer as well as the construction of the Sh1.5 billion Eldoret 64 market.
On Sunday, President Ruto had struck a conciliatory tone and called on the three arms of government, the executive, legislature and judiciary, to work together.
“Let us not have unnecessary competition between the executive and the judiciary, which wastes time in building our county. I am calling on all arms of government to work in harmony for the benefit of Kenyans,” Dr Ruto had said during a church service in Soy constituency, Uasin Gishu County.
But in what appears to be a change of tone, President Ruto on Tuesday accused rivals of colluding with the courts to sabotage his government’s development agenda.
“We respect the independence of the judiciary but that does not constitute sabotaging public interest. There are rights that are enshrined in Article 43 of the Constitution —social and economic rights — and I will not part with even a shilling for bribes in court,” said Dr Ruto.
While defending the housing and UHC programmes, Dr Ruto vowed to wipe out corruption in the judiciary, saying, those who have moved to court to halt the initiatives don’t have the interest of Kenyans at heart. He revealed that the housing initiative formed a key plank of the development plans of the previous administration in which he served as deputy to retired President Uhuru Kenyatta. These plans, Dr Ruto claimed, were derailed by the “handshake”, referring to the rapprochement struck between then-rivals Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga in March 2018 and which led to a falling out between the President and his deputy.
“The courts are supposed to serve Kenyans equally. Judicial officers are public employees and I assure you that I will deal firmly and decisively with corruption in the courts,” he said, maintaining that the housing programme was unstoppable.
He claimed corrupt individuals who were behind the loss of Sh20 billion at the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) last year have hired lawyers and bribed judicial officials to fleece public funds.
“I will not allow corrupt individuals to misuse the independence of the judiciary to sabotage the housing and health programmes. It will not happen under my watch and there is need to institute drastic changes,” said President Ruto.
He announced plans to distribute 3.5 million bags of fertiliser at a subsidised price of Sh2,500 for this season’s planting exercise.
“The availability of the low-cost fertiliser has motivated farmers to increase crop productivity by 40 per cent and help lower the cost of food,” explained Dr Ruto.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said some of the lawsuits challenging the Finance Bill 2023 were sponsored by politicians out to sabotage the Kenya Kwanza administration.
“Our political enemies have not relented in their scheme of disrupting President Ruto’s development agenda and that is why they have sought the help of the courts. We will not allow this to happen,” he said.
The DP repeated his oft-stated claim that Kenya Kwanza inherited a broke government that was on the verge of being auctioned off to unsettled public debt and that was now on the path to recovery.
