Presidency, MPs are cherry-picking laws to enact: Chief Justice Maraga

Chief Justice David Maraga. He has accused the political class of selfishness and sectarian interests by failing to pass laws that promote constitutionalism and good governance. FILE PHOTO | FRANCIS NDERITU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Chief Justice David Maraga accuses the political class of selfishness and sectarian interests.
  • CJ Maraga said left on their own, the Legislative and Executive arms of government, will implement the Constitution in an arbitrary manner cherry-picking the easier and non-contentious provisions but always safeguarding their personal or sectarian interests.

Chief Justice David Maraga has accused the political class of selfishness and sectarian interests by failing to pass laws that promote constitutionalism and good governance.

Making remarks during the Oxford Union Conference in the United Kingdom, Justice Maraga said despite a specific requirement in the Fifth Schedule that the legislation to implement the two-thirds gender rule and other provisions be enacted within five years, the law is yet to be enacted nearly a decade down the line.

“Why? Because such legislation will obviously affect and disrupt the patriarchal interests of the Kenyan political elite,” he said on Tuesday night.

There have been three attempts and two proposals by MPs, to implement the gender principle, all of which have flopped.

CHERRY-PICKERS

Justice Maraga said left on their own, the Legislative and Executive arms of government, will implement the Constitution in an arbitrary manner cherry-picking the easier and non-contentious provisions but always safeguarding their personal or sectarian interests.

“And that is exactly what they have done in Kenya. Three examples will suffice— the implementation of the gender equality principle under the Kenyan Constitution; failure to fight corruption and impunity; and failure to hold credible elections,” he said.

Justice Maraga’s speech was titled: 'Reflection on the interface between institutions, leadership, and faith'.

AFRICAN LEADERS

The CJ said elections was another area where serious challenges arise. He castigated African leaders stating that greed for individual accumulation of wealth makes elections world over very competitive features.

“As political power, especially on the African continent, facilitates the acquisition and consolidation of economic power, presidents in Africa, seek and wield a lot of power,” he said.

He added that candidates and political parties often do anything to be elected, while the incumbent presidents who are eligible for re-election, marshal state power and all means at their disposal to get re-elected.

“All these factors explain why elections for political power in Africa, at every level, are extremely “high-pressure events,” he said.

FAITH

Justice Maraga also said that despite 80 percent of the population being Christian, with a fair percentage professing the Muslim, Hindu and other faiths corruption is still a huge problem and a majority of people with the connivance of technocrat “tenderpreneurs” across all those faiths, immersed in the vice.

The CJ also touched on his faith stating that in his personal and public life, religion has provided a vital framework, allowing him to sieve through the complexities of life, and to chart a path that he considers conscientious, fair, and right in the eyes of God and man.

“That is my moral compass which, though I am a weak and sinful human being as everybody else is, I endeavour to follow in my decisions including the Supreme Court decision of September 2017 on the Presidential Election Petition,” he said.