He did it in mid-January, but this time he couldn’t get away with it. That is Judicial Service Commission (JSC) Vice Chairman Isaac Ruto donning a yellow cap and a scarf emblazoned with logos of the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party.
When he donned the “yellow-yellow” pair on January 15, he was in Bomet, addressing a gathering and calling for more people to register as voters.
“We have won this election with over 80 per cent,” he said, referring to his governorship ambitions in the 2027 General Election.
Two weeks later, he donned the same “yellow-yellow” combination at a more scrutinised event — a UDA national governing council meeting.
Then the questions, or rather the injections, wouldn’t stop. They had a simple chorus: How does the second most powerful person in the independent commission that oversees the Judiciary openly associate himself with a political party, the ruling one no less?
Among those who raised questions was Mr Macharia Njeru, who was the holder of the position before Mr Ruto occupied it in 2023.
“[This] is a big threat to the independence of the Judiciary,” he said in a letter to Chief Justice Martha Koome, the chairperson of JSC.
Vice Chairperson of the Judicial Service Commission, Isaac Kiprono Rutto, appears before the National Assembly Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee at Bunge Tower, Nairobi, on Thursday, July 17, 2025.
“My expectation is that Hon Ruto will exclude himself from participating in the remaining interviews for the judge positions and proceed to resign from the commission altogether with immediate effect for the greater good of our Judiciary and the JSC too,” added Mr Njeru on Tuesday, a day after Mr Ruto’s controversial appearance at the UDA event. “It is unprecedented for a JSC commissioner to openly associate and work with a political party.”
On Friday, more dosage came from the Kenyan chapter of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya), which was nonplussed by Mr Ruto’s conduct. ICJ equally wrote a letter to Justice Koome.
“The open association with and participation in the activities of a political party strikes at the heart of judicial independence and seriously undermines public confidence in the JSC and the Judiciary,” ICJ Kenya said in a statement posted on X.
“Article 73 on leadership and integrity requires State officers to be objective and impartial, and Article 75 proscribes conduct by State officers that erodes public confidence,” it added. “ICJ Kenya asserts that members of the JSC must be bound by the same, if not higher, standards they are entrusted to enforce.”
Ms Christine Alai, the chairperson of ICJ Kenya, noted that JSC members “occupy a uniquely sensitive constitutional position”.
Bomet Governor Hillary Barchok (centre), former Kanu Secretary General Nick Salat (right) and former Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto (left) at the United Democratic Alliance party consultative forum on January 7, 2025 at Bomet IAAF stadium.
Mr Ruto is no stranger to controversy. When he was Bomet governor between 2013 and 2017, he served as the chairman of the Council of Governors, and that role saw him grab not-too-few headlines. And before he became a bright-yellow vanguard of President William Ruto’s UDA, he had thrown a couple of jabs at the latter. In 2015, a local media house summed up the fight between the two as “Ruto vs Rutto”.
However, the two found a way of working together, and in May 2023 the President nominated him to be a JSC member. According to Article 172 of the Constitution, he can serve for a five-year term that can be extended for a further five years. All indications, however, are that Mr Ruto will returning to Bomet voters next year.
Mr Ruto won his first major elective position in 1997 when he captured the Chepalungu constituency seat, serving until 2002. He recaptured the seat in the 2007 General election, serving till 2013 when he became the Bomet county boss.
Lawyer Evance Ndong is among those who also gave an injection for Mr Ruto’s “yellow fever”, stating in an opinion article: “When the vice chair of the JSC attends a ruling party meeting at State House, dressed in party colours, the Constitution bleeds.”
“He blurred a line that the Constitution deliberately drew,” he added.
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