Former Chief Justice David Maraga speaking in Bungoma on July 14, 2025. /DAVID MARAGA/XFormer Chief Justice David Maraga has criticised the formation of a joint committee tasked with implementing the National Dialogue Committee report and the 10-point UDA-ODM agenda signed by President William Ruto and Raila Odinga.
Maraga described the five-member team chaired by former nominated senator Agnes Zani as "pata-potea committee", saying it's yet another costly political arrangement that will fail to deliver meaningful reforms.
The NADCO report, adopted by Parliament in February 2024, contains a five-point plan for constitutional, legal, and policy reforms covering electoral justice, the cost of living, political party fidelity, and the law on multiparty democracy.
The 10-point agenda, in contrast, was signed by Ruto and Raila on March 7 this year at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, sealing a formal working partnership between the two rivals.
In a sharply worded statement, Maraga said the formation of the committee was yet another example of political recycling, characterised by the creation of high-profile bodies with no real intention of change.
“No one is blind to the fact that nothing changes because the same sludge of systemic rot that benefits the few stays in place."
The former CJ dismissed the exercise as “performative governance" whose investment is purely in elite bargains.
However, Ruto and Raila insist that the initiative is a genuine attempt to unify the country and implement the agreed-upon reforms.
In their joint statement, they named Fatuma Ibrahim, Kevin Kiarie, Gabriel Oguda and Javas Bigambo as members.
They said a joint secretariat co-led by officials from both parties will run the committee’s operations, with full funding provided by UDA and ODM.
The principals promised “inclusive and extensive consultations” with the public, government institutions, independent commissions, civil society, religious leaders, and the private sector to ensure the process reflects the needs and aspirations of all Kenyans.
They said progress reports will be submitted to them every two months, with quarterly updates to a joint Kenya Kwanza–ODM Parliamentary Group.
The final report will be released on March 7, 2026 — exactly one year after the signing of the UDA–ODM pact.
But in a hard-hitting statement, Maraga dismissed the new body as part of a long pattern of elite-driven committees, task forces and commissions that consume public resources but deliver little substantive change.
Maraga argued that any ad hoc committee worth its mandate must reset governance to the rule of law, restore the humanity of ordinary Kenyans and rebuild institutions that hold leaders accountable.
