National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah during the interview at his home in Kikuyu on January 3.
As the uproar over President William Ruto’s threat to disobey court orders issued by “bribe-taking judges” continues to grow, his close ally and National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah has maintained that “corrupt judges must fall”.
Mr Ichung’wah suggested a judicial radical surgery similar to the one under former President Mwai Kibaki's first term in office to get rid of corrupt judges and other senior officials within the Judiciary.
Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with the Nation, Mr Ichung’wah said that heads will soon roll, in an escalation of the Kenya Kwanza administration’s fight against corruption. He explained that the fight against graft targets corrupt individuals in all three arms of government.
Mr Ichung’wah, who became a fierce critic of former President Uhuru Kenyatta at the height of the latter’s bitter falling out with President Ruto, disclosed that he was already working on a Bill to establish a commission on state capture to expose masters and architects of the vice.
He claimed that public resources were diverted to private enterprises by senior individuals in the previous administration and that certain policies by the previous administration were designed to benefit individuals at the expense of the public.
In the run-up to the 2022 elections, President Ruto and his allies used the “dynasties versus hustlers” narrative to show that a few families have controlled the political and economic leadership of the country since independence at the expense of millions of Kenyans.
President Ruto promised to establish, “within 30 days, a quasi-judicial public inquiry to establish the extent of cronyism and state capture in the nation and make recommendations”.
During the campaigns, President Ruto accused the Jubilee government, in which he was the Deputy President, of being beholden to cartels, fraudsters and economic saboteurs, whom he blamed for the rising cost of living.
Mr Ichunng’wah also accused Mr Kenyatta, without mentioning his name, of working with some cartels to frustrate some of President Ruto’s legacy projects like the housing project, particularly in Kiambu County.
He also blamed cash flow challenges as a result of court orders blocking some of the new taxes as the reason Kenya abandoned its initial plan to make an advance payment on the Eurobond principal loan before the end of 2023.
Mr Ichung’wah disclosed that the National Treasury was working on a comprehensive tax regime review that could see some of the punitive taxes adjusted by February.
How do you rate Parliament’s performance?
Parliament has done exceptionally well in the last one year. We have had our own very unique challenges but overall, we have done very well and have passed quite a number of Bills. This Parliament came with amendments to the standing orders to allow Cabinet secretaries to come and be accountable to the people of Kenya. We’ve seen a number of questions and statements being answered in parliament by CSs, some have performed quite well but some are below par on their responses and the members have had the occasion to take on them.
Critics say you work under the whims of the Executive?
In the 12th Parliament, with the handshake regime, nobody was accountable to anybody. In fact, were it not for a few of us transforming ourselves into the unofficial opposition and questioning some issues ... the rest of the House became a choir for the Executive and Kenyans know what happened then.
This Parliament, unlike the last, has a functional and effective opposition in the minority and they have been able to have their way to hold the government to account. MPs from the majority side have not held them back from expressing themselves.
You have seen members even from the Kenya Kwanza coalition vote against government Bills that they felt were not in tandem with what they believed or that they had other interests other than the interest that the government had. For instance, in the Finance Bill. This 13th Parliament has declined to approve an appointment done by the Executive.
Why all these additional taxes and statutory deductions?
It is what you have to do and we have not been insensitive to the fact that there would be pain at the beginning, but it is pain that will come with gain at the end of it all. One can argue that we could probably wait for the global economy to get better, but who has that timeline when the global economy will get better?
We are importing food because we failed to do certain fundamental things we ought to have done. Two months before the elections, the administration announced subsidised maize flour and fuel and it is still a matter of debate if that maize flour got to Kenyans. We told them then that was not going to be sustainable but they were intent on hoodwinking Kenyans for the elections. It came with a cost of over Sh8bn that was never paid by the previous regime. They left a bill of over Sh60bn on fuel subsidy. You could take populist things that are in the long or middle term very expensive to Kenyans and you would drive Kenya on a cliff of debt.
We will not be able to grow our economy without everybody paying their rightful contribution through taxation, but the challenge then is how do we ensure that this taxation regime is fairer and equitable?.
I can tell you that from the National Dialogue process, it was indicated by the National Treasury that by February 2024 they have a comprehensive review of the entire tax regime to ensure that everybody is carrying a fair burden of our tax.
The President promised to pay Eurobond by December, but made a U-turn and only settled interests ...
First, you must appreciate that, unlike other countries that are defaulting, we are confidently saying that Kenya shall not default on its Eurobond obligation or any of its foreign and domestic debt obligations, and there are plans to settle all our obligations as they fall due. The Eurobond is due in June and it was deliberate that we start paying it in instalments ahead of time because it is also a very good signal to the rest of the world and the international market that Kenya is the right place to invest and lend money to lend money.
There were promises to pay certain amounts by a certain point in time, but remember these are cash flow matters and you base your payments on the cash flows that are coming in and the projections and that was the projections then.
Part of our struggle came with the Finance Bill. Remember the first quarter of the year had a huge shortfall of close to Sh80bn courtesy of all the cases in court. It is the court that stopped us from collecting taxes. We shall settle our debt obligations unless someone goes and bribes a judge somewhere to stop the government from paying the Eurobond. Take it to the bank that the Eurobond shall be repaid ahead of time.
How do you rate the performance of the Judiciary?
The performance of the Judiciary in its entirety is okay. But there are also challenges just like there are challenges in every sector of the economy and the other arms of the government, and that is what we have been referring to.
It is not a blanket condemnation of the Judiciary because there are many good judicial officers and the President and I spoke about judicial officers, not the entire judiciary.
But that is not to say that within the Judiciary there are no characters whose integrity is highly questionable, whose actions are very questionable, whose demeanour even in their court rulings is questionable, and those are the people we are speaking to. Just like you would say there are a few MPs who misappropriate resources under their care, that does not mean the entire Parliament as an institution has issues.
Is the Judiciary only good when rulings are in your favour, and judges become corrupt when they rule against you?
It is not just those two cases of housing levy and universal health care. Remember the housing one is a matter that is carried in the Finance Act case that is already in court. The court found that there are certain issues that the government or Parliament needed to create better legal anchorage on, especially around the operationalisation of the Act. We went ahead and published a Bill, pursuant to that ruling.
We advertised for public participation. But through what you would see as forum shopping, somebody filed a petition in Kisumu that then injuncted Parliament to stop public participation. So is the universal health cover that someone has gone to court to stop regulations of UHC. What else would you call that other than judicial overreach?
We are saying that the Judiciary is guaranteed of its independence, that judicial officers shall not be under instructions of anybody, not the President, not petitioners, not cartels that have been benefiting.
It is those cartels that are fighting the implementation of UHC because they want to continue benefiting. It is those cartels who are influencing officers in the Judiciary when cases are filed. I want to tell you to watch this space. There are judicial officers that must fall because of their actions.
Is that a threat to judges?
They have to because we have a country to run. When we say that we shall not just speak about corruption but we shall act, that does not exclude officers from the Judiciary that are corrupt. Those corrupt judicial officers shall fall. No one is immune to the fight against corruption. If the Judiciary imagines that they enjoy such impunity that they are above the constitution, I have a duty and obligation to remind them that we shall not allow overreach by the Judiciary or overreach by the Executive.
Why not name the corrupt judges?
I hope you are not inviting me to discuss particular judges because I shall not do that. I have told you that the cases are not limited to two cases, they are not even limited to cases related to the government. I shall not get into discussing individual judges. I have only stated a fact that there is corruption within the Judiciary just like there could be corruption in other institutions. Anybody within the three arms of the government who is engaging in corrupt activities has everything to be afraid of because it will catch up with you, because it will not just be a talk about the fight against corruption.
It is not just Kimani Ichung’wah, President William Ruto or the political class speaking about a problem that is alive in the Judiciary. Even those in that space, in courts, know what is happening. Let everybody relax. If you have nothing sinister and you are an officer doing your work diligently in the Judiciary, then you have nothing to be afraid of. But if you are among those who have been taking bribes, those who people forum shop for, to procure judgments, then you have all the reasons to be afraid.
What do you mean by forum shopping?
There are particular judicial officers that particular cartels will occasionally run to. And by the way, not just judges or magistrates, even other officers in the Judiciary. Also, if you are a Kenyan who is procured or enlisted by cartels that have been stealing from NHIF (National Health Insurance Fund) to forum shop for them, then there is a problem. We are not saying nobody should challenge any government actions, any government action is subject to be challenged in court or any other places, including in parliament.
It is a travesty of justice that a few of us who are able to stop millions of other Kenyans who have no access to jobs, who have no access to a means of livelihood from having a means of livelihood simply because we want to serve our own selfish political interests and selfish business interest because that is the case that is there with housing and UHC.
UHC is a case where cartels that have been stealing from the people of Kenya hide behind a proposal of 2.75 per cent. Why should we deny Kenyans that opportunity because we have allowed a clique of cartels and public servants who have been benefiting from managed schemes that give them extraordinary benefits at the expense of the majority of Kenyan hustlers?
You recently talked about masters and architects of State capture trying to sabotage housing projects in Kiambu?
Let me tell you because it is a very pregnant question that I have been dealing with, and also confirm to you that I am working on a Bill to establish a State capture commission like the one that was in South Africa. I can tell you that KeNHA (Kenya National Highways Authority) built a road on a private farm within Kiambu County.
There was a proposed private city where public resources were deployed, including the construction of a private runway. Chinese contractors who were working with the government also constructed over 2,000 affordable housing units within Kiambu County. There has been a deliberate and spirited effort to stall the housing agenda, particularly in Kiambu.
They have now started remobilising Mungiki in the Mt Kenya region to try and instil fear. The fact is that the same masters and architects of State capture are today actively seeking to sabotage the housing agenda in Kiambu. I will tell you this; the network runs deep and wide.
Your side in the NADCO team blamed Uhuru for trying to sabotage the talks? What evidence do you have?
If you go through the National Dialogue Committee report, you will see whatever Azimio coalition presented before NADCO on the cost of living, there are only two issues that we didn’t agree with them; scrapping of the 8 per cent VAT on fuel with reasons stated, and on scrapping of the housing levy, again with reasons.
Therefore, it is not correct that we never listened to them; we listened to each other, we arrived at a compromise. It is only that there was an element of sabotage within the Azimio coalition and the last Friday before we signed the final report on Saturday, when they went to brief their principal, the Jubilee side was insisting on people not signing. And that is why I called out the former President on his sabotage of the national dialogue process. He was in a meeting in Raila Odinga’s house.
There is a bursary crisis. Schools are reopening but the Treasury is yet to disburse CDF ...
Bursary is not a scholarship, so, our children do not wholly rely on bursaries to access school. You cannot even afford full scholarships on bursaries because of the number of people who expect bursaries. Two, there are many avenues of bursaries; those that come from the Ministry of Education, county governments and now those from NG-CDF. And children would still report to school as we process bursaries for them.
Again, there is money that already the National Treasury has arranged to be disbursed to the NG-CDF board, but remember this came during the Christmas season, almost everybody was on break. So as promised, money will be in the accounts of particular NG-CDF committees in constituencies by the time schools open; that is the commitment that we got from the National Treasury and I have no reason to doubt them.
