Editor's Review

“Ruto is looking to set up a user-friendly Judiciary, full of people with questionable pasts and limited capacity."

Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga now claims that President William Ruto wants former IEBC chairman to replace Martha Koome as Chief Justice before the 2027 general elections.

Addressing the media on Friday, February 2, Raila claimed that Kenyans were not told the actual truth about Ruto’s meeting with CJ Koome at State House last month.

The former Prime Minister claimed that Ruto and Koome agreed on a plan that would allow him to appoint friendly judges to the Judiciary.

According to Raila, the President agreed to increase funding to the Judiciary and in return, CJ Koome advertises vacancies for five additional High Court Judges and 11 Court of Appeal judges.

He alleged that President Ruto would float the names of Chebukati and Isaac Hassan to be appointed as Court of Appeal Judges.

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“In that agreement, the five High Court Judges and two Court of Appeal Judges will be for Mr. Ruto to forward to the JSC. And he floated the names. Immediate former IEBC Chairman Mr. Wafula Chebukati and former IEBC Chairman Ahmed Isaac Hassan are to be appointed as Court of Appeal judges with Chebukati be later elevated as the Chief Justice before 2027 General elections,” Raila claimed.

President William Ruto with CJ Martha Koome and Moses Wetang'ula at State House Nairobi.

The opposition chief went on to say that Ruto is intentionally targeting the High Court and the Court of Appeal to staff them with his loyalists.

“Ruto is looking to set up a user-friendly Judiciary, full of people with questionable pasts and limited capacity. And, unfortunately, the Chief Justice is gladly smiling along and playing ball,” Raila added.

The ODM chief’s claims come after CJ Koome declared eleven vacancies in the Office of the Judge of the Court of Appeal.

In a gazette notice on Friday, Koome said the appointments will be made in accordance with Article 166(1)(b), (2) and (4) of the Constitution and Section 30, Part V and the First Schedule of the Judicial Service Act, 2011.

President Ruto and CJ Koome held a meeting on January 22 following a feud over corruption in the Judiciary.

During the meeting, the three arms of government committed to enhancing service delivery, fighting corruption, and promoting the overall administration of justice to enhance accountability.

They also resolved to individually develop policies, guidelines, regulations, and legislative proposals to fight corruption, improve service delivery, and enhance institutional accountability.