Azimio-One Kenya leader Raila Odinga has criticized Chief Justice Martha Koome for meeting with president William Ruto.
Raila termed the meeting held earlier today by the three arms of government terming it as an irresponsible move.
Speaking while in Lamu County, the opposition leader said if Ruto and Koome met to discuss the recent fallout between the judiciary and the executive, it should have happened at a neutral place and not the statehouse.
“State House is the home of the Executive. That is where the president resides. If there is going to be a dialogue over issues of governance, it should be held on a neutral ground.” Raila stated.
According to Raila, the meeting means the executive is compromising the judiciary.
“The Judiciary is being held hostage by the Executive, and we’ve seen this before. We saw it happen under the rule of Mr. Moi, and we’ve tried to caution the current CJ not to go to bed with the Executive.” He said.
The ODM leader has expressed hope that the rest of the Judiciary will not be compromised.
Earlier today, the national assembly speaker, the CJ, and the president met at the statehouse following weeks of attacks and counter-attacks amongst the three arms of government.
The meeting comes after Ruto accused the Judiciary of teaming up with cartels to stall his ‘development’ projects.
“I want to announce here that a few people with vested interests who are beneficiaries of corruption in NHIF are now ganging up with corrupt judicial officers to stall reforms so that fake hospital claims will continue.” Ruto stated earlier this month.
The utterances caused reactions from various organizations accusing the president of interfering with the independence of the judiciary.
Last week, the CJ stated that the judiciary had written a letter to the executive seeking an audience with the system.
She said she was ready to interrogate him over the claims and concerns raised.
“The president might have received information because we have various machinery and agencies for collecting information and we would like to engage him so that he can give us that information. So we will be looking out for that dialogue, we have written and I believe that the President is going to give us an appointment.” Koome said.
