•Mutunga rejects claims that he led other six judges in striking out the opposition leader Raila Odinga's evidence bundle on a technicality
• Mutunga also rejected the ongoing fight against corruption as a charade, a diversion by the political elite.
Image: FILE
Retried Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has said he was neither influenced nor threatened to rule in favour of President Uhuru Kenyatta in the 2013 presidential election petition.
Mutunga termed as lazy the continued claims by his critics that the decision was reached under duress.
In an interview with the Star, the former CJ said that he was neither bribed nor pressured by Jubilee and CORD in any way or form to uphold Uhuru's win.
Mutunga said a politician even said he knew where the bribes were banked in offshore accounts.
“Rumour had it that I had a gun to my head when I wrote the short decision because we had no time to immediately give the reasons for our decision. I have said it before and I will say it again to you. I was not bribed,” Mutunga said.
Politicians mainly from then opposition CORD - had variously claimed that the judges struck-out their 900-page evidence bundle on a technicality because of external pressure.
“There was absolutely no external influence of any nature brought to bear upon me over the petition,” he said.
He said more of the subject will be read in his memoir titled the Muddy Mango due this June.
Mutunga said he does not regret the decision the Supreme Court entered.
"Wrongly or rightly, the apex court decided that the deadlines were constitutional and not technical," he said.
Materials used in the case are public records available for critiquing and analysis, he said.
"We handed over the entire record of the petition to the Law School in the University of Nairobi for reading, critiquing and reflecting on the decision. We were accused of being bribed to reach that verdict," Mutunga said.
Mutunga rejected the notion that his handling of the 2013 presidential election petition is the defining action of his legacy at the Judiciary.
He said he wrote several scholarly articles, lectured in many places globally and wrote many dissenting and concurring decisions. All these should be considered as part of his legacy, he said.
“I disagree that the 2013 presidential election petition “stands out in my tenure” in the Judiciary. This is the view taken by those who believe I single-handedly decided that petition. I did much more in the Judiciary aside from the decision made by six Supreme Court judges," he said.
Mutunga, however, said he is "never bothered by the issue of legacy" as a person's legacy in Kenya "is judged through divisive lenses, and never objectively."
“I have left this issue to historians, lawyers, the media including social media and politicians. I come from a tradition where ruthless criticism in whatever form and substance is valued,” he said.
He, however, said he was proud to be accused of entrenching activism in the judicial system as "our 2010 Constitution is activist in its jurisprudence and politics".
Fight against corruption
The retired judge said that while the Judiciary is captured by corrupt cartels, the blame it is currently receiving as the weak link in the fight against the vice is a diversionary game by the political class.
Mutunga said the much-talked-about fight against corruption was a charade as politicians are the ones who continue to perpetuate the vice and capture of the judiciary to gate-keep for their interest.
“I do not think there is a political will to wage war on corruption in this country. What war I would like to see is the people’s war waged against the corruption of the political leadership and baronial elites in this country and of course their foreign masters in the West and East.” Mutunga said.