Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has continued to fault the Judiciary over what he terms as lack of courage to face the executive.
Speaking in an interview with The Standard, Mutunga said that the constitution has clearly defined roles of the Executive, but the Judiciary under the leadership of Martha Koome has failed to dictate the way forward.
He called upon the Judiciary to step up and defend their position against the Executive, under the leadership of president Kenyatta and the Parliament which he said is impolite and meddlesome.
“The Judges should be candid and say that unless the Executive purges their contempt, they won’t be listened to,” he advised.
According to Mutunga, the Judiciary was acting timidly because it is in the process of shedding off the term activist.
He argued that the term describes anybody who supports or opposes changes while citing the BBI case.
The former CJ said that during his era, he directed the judges to acknowledge the fact that they were involved with politics on a daily basis.
“Politics is part of life… even the Constitution is so political. It is so activist. The best case is the BBI. Those who wanted to change the Constitution were activists, and for ruling against it, the Judges were activists,” Mutunga stated.
Last month, Mutunga advised judges to down their tools in a bid to protest against the executive’s habit of ignoring court orders. He said that the only way for the Judiciary to be respected by the Executive was through action.
CJ Koome however differed with Mutunga and asked him to keep off matters relating to the Judiciary.
“Though since retired, this solemn affirmation normatively transcends the life of every retired Chief Justice to secure, guide and protect the right of every Kenyan to access justice and indeed the substratum of the Constitution.
“The implications of calling for a judicial strike are far-reaching. It is in part, calling for the suspension or dismemberment of the Constitution by excluding one arm of Government from the constitutional operations of our democratic state,” Koome said in a statement.
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