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Uhuru tweet returns to haunt Makau Mutua at CJ interviews


Chief Justice applicant Prof Makau Mutua was hard pressed to explain a tweet from 2013 where he vowed never to recognize Uhuru Kenyatta as president.

Prof Mutua was taken to task by Attorney General Prof Githu Muigai and momentarily skirted around with an answer, before declaring: “If I am appointed as the Chief Justice, I won’t have any problem working with President Uhuru Kenyatta.”

The tweet that haunted Prof Mutua during the interviews to replace retired Chief Justice Dr Willy Mutunga was posted in 2013 just after the Supreme Court ruled that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had conducted the March 2013 election in a free and fair manner.

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

The ruling effectively installed Mr Kenyatta –then facing crimes against humanity charges at the International Criminal Court- as president and William Ruto (also charged) as his deputy.

It was later repeated in 2015 and is still available on his timeline.

Later in an interview with The Standard he had this to say:

A screenshot from the interview with The Standard.
A screenshot from the interview with The Standard.

He also added that he tweeted as a private citizen and would therefore behave otherwise if he were to be appointed CJ.

US CITIZENSHIP

During the interview, Prof Mutua also admitted to holding US citizenship and said he would be ready to denounce it should he be appointed CJ.

He also said he was not an intermediary of the ICC and did not procure witnesses or ensure safe passage to safe houses abroad under the ICC witness protection programme.

Prof Mutua, however, admitted that he trained the ICC prosecutors and said he was fulfilling his mandate as a human rights lawyer.