Chief Justice David Maraga yesterday criticised President Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA leaders Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka for making utterances that border on intimidation of judges.
He hit out at National Assembly majority leader Aden Duale for accusing Justice George Odunga of engaging in tribal politics and being partisan in December 2016.
Also in the list of political leaders picked out by the Judicial Service Commission for habitually hurling attacks and intimidating judges in particular and the Judiciary in general are Devolution CS Mwangi Kiunjuri and Kinango MP Gonzi Rai.
His statement comes six days to the General Election.
The CJ enumerated instances where the politicians openly attacked individual judges or the Judiciary as an institution.
For example, Uhuru, on July 9, accused the Judiciary of working with the opposition when the High Court ruled that the IEBC must re-advertise the tender for printing of presidential ballot papers.
Raila and Kalonzo had said their supporters would take to the streets in the event the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the IEBC on the question of who should declare the final results of the presidential vote.
Uhuru, Raila and Kalonzo made the remarks on July 9.
Kiunjuri and Rai accused the CJ of failing to conduct due diligence in appointing Odunga to sit on the bench of the Al Ghurair case on July 11.
Maraga said the culture of public lynching of judges and judicial officers by the political class is a vile affront to the rule of law and must be fiercely resisted. “This is particularly so when the tone and regularity of the condemnations transgress the ordinary boundary of disagreement and debate on judicial pronouncements and lurch alarmingly in the direction of threats, intimidation and blackmail,” he said.
The CJ said the attacks have recently become bolder, persistent and institutionalised.
He said the attacks climaxed this week with Jubilee Party’s letter to him, demanding that Odunga recuse himself from current assignments.
The letter was written by JP secretary general Raphael Tuju.
“While we don’t wish to respond to this specific demand, we note with concern the audacity of the party as it seeks to select who hears the cases it files,” Maraga said.
Meanwhile the Law Society of Kenya and senior counsel Fred Ojiambo termed the letter by Tuju “an attack on the independence of Judiciary”.