DEFIANT KENYAN JUDGES TURN PRESIDENT RUTO INTO A PAPER TIGER

By Jamesa Wafula in Nairobi jackson.kairu@yahoo.com

Defiant Kenyan judges with little respect for occupants of the high office of presidency may be on the way to turning Kenya President William Ruto into a paper tiger. The judges have kept taking the bull by the horns and trashing key state projects already being implemented with projected costs and economic impact approved by donors. Infact it is in appreciation of this that recently IMF approved a Khs 350 billion loan to help kick start projects targeting to improve low income earners mainly in the informal sector. Now the courts say this is unconstitutional and want the scheme and those whose money had already been deducted refunded with interest. The judicial nightmare President Ruto is facing draws close parallels with what President Uhuru Kenyatta faced which then sidelined Deputy President William Ruto roundly applauded praising the judges as “heroes” Then a furious President Uhuru told Ruto to resign after the Judges kicked out that widely touted Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) that was being fronted with opposition leader Raila Odinga. Many saw the BBI as a clever move that could have seen Kenyatta succeed himself as prime Minister, while Odinga become President leaving Ruto to bear the brunt of political Siberia. Matters did not favour the UhuruRaila axis up to when they lost the hotly contested August 8 , 2022 presidential elections to the Ruto well oiled campaign machine that had for four years camped in the vote rich Mount Kenya region. But Ruto’s one and half year administration appears to be running into serious headwinds with the courts. The planned deployment of 1000 Kenya policemen in crime – ravaged Haiti has been halted as “unconstitutional”. According to the courts, the president can only deploy the army abroad. This prompted a reaction from the US state department disagreeing with the court and reaffirmed by President Ruto who says the police is also part of the armed forces and as commander in chief he has that authority. The opposition led by the man Ruto narrowly defeated, five times Presidential contender Raila Odinga Azmio leader who had no love lost for the judiciary has now become its biggest defender. Raila has twice warned against “intimidating” the judiciary which on September 15, 2022 dismissed his petition against “Presidentelect Ruto”. Then Raila lambasted the Judiciary as “biased” and an enemy of the people warning he could lead a one million people march to eject the judges. A furious President Ruto has in his latest stand-off vowed to continue with his “Affordable Housing” scheme that the courts have trashed as unconstitutional and ordered that it be stopped. Employers had already started effecting the 5 percent deductions on all cadres of wage earners from the president downwards and the head of state has officiated at ground breaking functions in different parts of the country. The president says the scheme will create two million jobs for unemployed youth. The courts have also scrapped President Ruto’s plans for digital ID’s just as the programme was being rolled out, and further stopped the universal health insurance scheme which had also just kicked off. The ruling party Kenya Kwanza legislators are accusing the courts of turning into an opposition party asking them to resign and vie for elective positions instead of hiding behind “judicial tyranny”. President Ruto who had just flown to Italy to attend an international summit of African heads of state vows to continue with his projects and ignore what he termed a “rogue judiciary” acting at the behest of judicial activists and opposition supporters. Courts in Kenya unlike Kampala can take on the Chief Executive of the country head on, now a frustrated president seems to have his hands tied. If he defies and ignores the courts he risks being termed a dictator with no respect for rule of law. If his projects fail to take off he will have little to sell in seeking a second term in the 2027 elections which appears to be the strategy of the opposition that is now cheering the defiant judges.

President William Ruto

Busia senator and veteran civil rights activist Okiya Omutata is the man causing Ruto sleepness nights filing one court order after another, telling the President to his face during a public function that he does not fear him. This prompted an angry President Ruto to declare that the symbolic sword of power handed to him as he was being sworn in “was not for cutting vegetables” and that he would deal firmly with his detractors. A scared Omutata made futile attempts to report a threat to his life at various police stations alluding to the president warning. He was chased away at every police station. There is no doubt that the courts could cripple the Ruto Presidency and turn him into a paper tiger, something roundly rejected by then strongman and fellow Kalenjin the late President Daniel Moi. Meeting with the Chief Justice appears to have changed little so the president is most likely walking the tight rope of disregarding court orders and setting a disturbing precedent that might not seat well with international donors. But he may have little choice as the race towards 2027 election has already started and failing to make any economic impact would be a hard sell even in Kenya’s heavily ethnic-driven politics considering the issue of high cost of living has become a major issue of public concern across the political divide■