President William Ruto has declared he would appoint the six judges that outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta refused to appoint following their promotion to higher courts.
The President also promised to give the police independence by allowing it to operate its budget, unlike the present situation where police operations are coordinated by the Office of the President.
Uhuru rejected the appointment of High Court judges George Vincent Odunga, Joel Ngugi, Weldon Korir and Aggrey Muchelule and magistrates Evans Makori Kiago and Judith Omange on integrity grounds.
Odunga, Ngugi, Korir and Muchelule were to join the Court of Appeal while Makori and Omange had been promoted to the High Court three years ago.
But Ruto, in his inauguration speech on Tuesday, said he would appoint the six as a sign of his commitment to fulfil his pre-election pledges.
“To further demonstrate my commitment to the independence of the Judiciary, this afternoon I will appoint the six judges already nominated for appointment to the Court of Appeal, three years ago,” he said.
Ruto added that the six, as appointed by the Judicial Service Commission, will be sworn in on Wednesday(today).
“I shall preside over their swearing-in ceremony so that they can get on with the business of serving the people,” he said.
President Ruto also pledged to increase judiciary funding by Sh3 billion every year for the next five years, a move that may push the court's budget to Sh30 billion from the current Sh18 billion.
Ruto said he was elated that the campaign for financial independence of the Judiciary has paid off with the implementation of the Judiciary Fund.
“These resources will support the bottom-up scaling of justice by increasing the number of small claims courts from the current 25 to 100,” he said.
“We will also work with the Judiciary to build high courts in the remaining seven counties, magistrates courts in the remaining 123 subcounties and support their ongoing digitisation programme.”
“The interventions will empower the Judiciary to adjudicate and expeditiously conclude corruption cases, commercial disputes and all other matters.”
For the police, Ruto said he would adhere to the provisions of Article 245 of the Constitution which grants the police independence.
The President said he had instructed that the instrument conferring financial autonomy to the National Police Service by transferring their budget from the Office of the President and designating the Inspector-General as the accounting officer, be placed at his desk for signing.
“The services’ operational autonomy has been undermined by the continued financial dependence on the Office of the President. This situation is going to change,” Ruto said.
“Financial independence to the police will give impetus to the fight against corruption and end the political weaponisation of the criminal justice system; an undertaking I made to the people of Kenya."
Ruto commended the security team saying they did a good job during the conduct of the August 9 general election.
“Their service and the heroic sacrifices they have made beyond the call of duty have kept our nation safe," he said.
“I am aware that our uniformed services effectively resisted concerted attempts to foment unrest and subvert the will of the people."
(Edited by Tabnacha O)
