Chief Justice David Maraga wants DCI George Kinoti to stop arresting corruption suspects on Fridays.
Kinoti has been arresting suspects on Friday and they are to sleep in police cells for the weekend since the Judiciary does not work during those days.
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"We are not going to win the war against corruption by Friday arrests…I do not want to appear like I am in a blame game but let the truth be told," he said.
Speaking in Nairobi on Friday, an angry Maraga said the Judiciary does not go out to look for cases.
"Those who feel aggrieved come to us and file cases, we do not go to them. Like today, I am being showed on social media naked...we are not going to win war on corruption with such gimmicks," he said.
There was a hashtag on Twitter that showed photo-shopped naked bodies of Judiciary officials massaging some corruption suspects.
"The war against corruption will not be won by blame games and by people who are involved here (some are here) hiring professional bloggers to demonise anybody and the Judiciary," Maraga
said.
The CJ said Kenya will not win the corruption war without honesty and courage.
"This war must be won
by the application of the rule of law... the Constitution guarantees
the right to be heard.. presumed innocent until proved
guilty. Friday arrests put a lot of pressure on us," he said.
"This war will be won by use of technology and block chains. We need to invest in courage... people
being courageous. Come and tell us about this corruption case with concrete evidence."
EVIDENCE
He said they receive information about some corrupt members but there is never enough and sufficient evidence for convictions.
"The war against corruption is going to be won by evidence. I have no right to be a CJ if I have to confer with the DCI and DPP to assist them in prosecution," he said.
"We will not send any innocent man to jail. If there is no concrete evidence, we will acquit the suspect."
Maraga further said they need support to be deal with corruption within the Judiciary and Judicial Service Commission.
"I
agree that there is corruption in Judiciary but information we get is not actionable. We are asking for support to investigate some of the complaints that are coming here in the Judiciary and JSC," he said.
"These are allegations against our own people and ones we get the support we will deal with them."
He said the Judiciary has had delays in the past because magistrates
and judges have given lawyers to run the show.
"I have made that very clear that they have to take control
of the proceedings.
Noting that
corruption is not going to sit down, Maraga said corruption was fighting back adding that it involves a network of people.
"It is going to fight back
and it is fighting back very vigorously. We have situations where some people fake sickness
and doctors give them fake admissions," he said.
"This is a network ... we have cases where magistrates hearing cases come to my office and tell me that
they have problems with lawyers.."
In some instances, Maraga noted that one lawyer can appear in all the corruption cases.
"We are not going to allow this in future... if you have taken a corruption
case and you have taken another, it cannot work. To the aggrieved, if your lawyer is defending so and so ...we will not wait for him or you to appear in court," he said.
"We have asked those magistrates to mention all cases and give them fresh hearing dates.. dates available to the magistrates not the lawyers."
Maraga said the Judiciary
will not entertain cases of evidence tampering by the police.
"We have heard cases where evidence is being interfered with...you find that an officer is charged
with murder and is investigated by senior officers. Then the investigators come with a wrong serial number..," he said.
"What is the judicial officer supposed to do... the aggrieved
party will say this is not my serial number..."
FRAMING
The Chief Justice asked DPP Noordin Haji to frame cases in a proper manner.
"Look at the way you frame cases. How can you put 30 accused persons in one charge sheet. And this 30 people are being represented by 30 lawyers," he said.
"... how long do you think that will take?.. those kind of cases will never move... let us speak the truth... find ways of how you frame your cases."
Maraga said that of the DPP does not solve this, cases will be stagnant.
"You will continue blaming the judiciary and we are not going to move anywhere because of the way your frame
the cases," he said.
FUNDING
The Chief Justice noted that they need more funds to be able to prosecute cases.
"I
have magistrates from other station and I have brought them to Nairobi. The Judiciary
is extremely underfunded," he said.
"If Kenyans
want the Judiciary to give them what they want we need funding..we can see some resources being given to other institutions
and we are being stuffed."
Maraga said the cases cannot be solved or finished within six months.
"This is impracticable...one witness takes four days... I don't want to promise Kenyans
but we are discussing and telling the magistrates and judges that let us deal with the cases as soon as possible," he said.
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