” So when you hear us criticizing the judiciary, it is because we support the Judiciary …”. These were the words of Deputy President William Ruto on Thursday when he was invited by CJ David Maraga to invite President Uhuru Kenyatta to deliver his speech during the launch of
2017- 2018 state of Judiciary report
In most cases, we criticize what we don’t support or what we do not like, but the unique Mr. Ruto has a Different way of doing things. He claims to be in support of the judiciary, even when he is criticizing it.
Ruto said these words immediately after tendering apologies for his””inappropriate dressing code” during the event
“It is not out of disrespect that I am dressed like this. It has nothing to do with what I said before.. but I want to say that with respect and have the highest regard of our judicial system,” he said.
Ruto said in 1988, he met an old member of the Judiciary, Paul Muite who talked about criticising the government.
“At 31 years, I was robust in defending the government. He called me and told me supporting the government was not bad but noted that you also have to criticise it,” he said.
“So when you hear us criticising the judiciary, it is because we support the Judiciary…sometimes when they do what you don’t agree with and that is when we make certain comments.”
In 2017, President Uhuru Kenyatta said they will deal with the Judiciary and “revisit” their case after the Supreme Court nullified his August presidential election victory.
The President asked the Judiciary to practice fairness stating that the independent arm of the government has not been fair.
“I’ve always said we have a problem with our Judiciary. We shall respect the ruling but we will revisit this agenda because we have to respect the will of the people,” he said.