Mutunga puts on brave face, vows to do battle with graft

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga addresses the media outside the Supreme Court on February 5, 2016 where he received a report from the special JSC team set up to inquire bribery allegations against Justice Philip Tunoi. He has challenged leaders led by President Kenyatta to lead war against corruption. PHOTO | JEFF | ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The judiciary has in the recent past been embroiled in corruption scandals among them claims that Supreme Court Judge Philip Tunoi received a Sh200 million bribe from Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero to rule in his favour in an election petition.
  • The CJ said the judiciary had worked to support devolution but warned that the relationship could be ruined if county governments are beset by corruption.

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has put a brave face amidst mounting corruption scandals in the Judiciary and vowed to personally lead the war by ensuring that a forensic lifestyle audit is undertaken on judicial officers.

He also challenged leaders led by President Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto, cabinet secretaries, governors, MPs and other leaders to conduct a similar audit, saying the war against corruption required them to lead by example.

“I believe that, in addition to a strong regime of laws, the fight against corruption must also be premised on the power of personal example,” he said.

The judiciary has in the recent past been embroiled in corruption scandals among them claims that Supreme Court Judge Philip Tunoi received a Sh200 million bribe from Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero to rule in his favour in an election petition challenging his election.

The matter has since been concluded by a special committee and will head to a tribunal after substantive grounds were established to warrant further investigations.

This week, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly recommended investigations on Supreme Court Judge Smokin Wanjala, Court of Appeal Judge Mohammed Warsame and Judicial Service Commission (JSC) commissioners Emily Ominde, Christine Mango, Rev Samuel Kobia, and Ahmednasir Abdullahi for allegedly being paid allowances irregularly during their time in office.

The PAC special audit report also referred to Dr Mutunga as a “good example of a headless head of the judiciary.”

However, during an address to the Council of Governors in Nairobi on Friday, Dr Mutunga came out fighting, saying the judiciary had made inroads in the fight against corruption.

In his address to the governors, the CJ said the judiciary had worked to support devolution but warned that the relationship could be ruined if county governments are beset by corruption and oversight institutions created to help, exhibit “a cowardice, unwillingness, and inability to confront the demon.”

STOP LOOTERS

In his usual style, the CJ used metaphors and expressions to exemplify the fight against corruption in the judiciary and the wider legal profession and sector, indicating the struggles and perhaps the frustrations likely to shape his legacy at the helm of the judiciary.

“When the progressives fight corruption, you will be amazed and surprised by the might and level of support they will receive, even from the unlikeliest of quarters,” he continued.

He said that in the last five years, he has been involved in “this cage fight with the dragon, and every time I land a blow, I hear the loud squeals and howls of the corruption brotherhood and sisterhood from strange and suspect places,” he said.

Dr Mutunga said that even as the corruption fight continued, powerful allies of the corrupt would torture logic and engage in reverse reasoning.

“This is why, when progressives invoke the refrain ‘Aluta Continua’, even the corrupt and their rather ‘helpful’ powerful allies cheer because, to them, it sounds like a clarion call, ‘the Looting Continues’. We must stop them, both at the national and county levels,” he said.

Dr Mutunga said an elaborate anti-corruption and integrity infrastructure had been set up.