Nairobi News

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday told Chief Justice David Maraga to stop blaming the Executive in the war against the corruption and work on improving Judiciary’s output.

Justice Maraga had on Friday reserved harsh words for the Executive for slow pace on corruption cases during his address at the ongoing  anti-corruption conference.

In response, President Kenyatta said the Judiciary has its own problems that the Chief Justice needs to deal.

“Jameni baba (Maraga) uko na taabu. Hata mimi nilikuwa na taabu, na tutasaidiana kuondoa hio taabu. Jameni, ukona taabu,” the president told Maraga.

Justice Maraga had also accused critics of hiring bloggers to taint his name, but the President had a perfect reminder for that as well.

“I found it very interesting. I saw you were very angry today especially with one group in our society called bloggers. I remember there was a time we wanted to pass a law to stop these people from insulting all of us left right and centre but it was taken to the courts and the court declared it was unconstitutional. So just like the rest of us just get used to it,” the president said amid laughter.

Uhuru said the Judiciary needs to support the war on corruption and urged the Judiciary Service Commission to reflect on the weaknesses in its systems and correct them.

“Our courts must stop the practice of using injunctions against investigation of corrupt activities, issuing these orders which makes it easier for those involved to destroy evidence and intimidate witnesses,” he said.

The president quoted three cases that have stalled for years and urged the Chief Justice to work on the pace so as to protect taxpayers from the costs that the stalling of projects causes.