Advocates who practice in Siaya County on Friday joined their colleagues across the country in a protest to condemn the executive attacks on the Judiciary.
President William Ruto has lately been accusing Chief Justice Martha Koome-led Judiciary of alleged sabotage of state projects.
Ruto's most pronounced attack on the judiciary came against the backdrop of a court ruling that had ordered that the 1.5 per cent Housing Levy is unlawful.
Various actors in the legal field have interpreted the president's assertions as threats to the Judiciary.
Speaking during the protests outside the Siaya Law Courts, Advocate Leonard Okanda reminded the executive that the Judiciary is an independent institution that must be respected.
"We join our colleagues at the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and advocates across the country to condemn, in the strongest terms possible, the very unfortunate and sustained attacks on the judiciary," he said.
He went on:
"We remind the president that the judiciary is not a branch of the presidency or an appendage of the executive. Both the judiciary and the presidency are creations of the constitution."
As such, he continued, they all exercise powers donated to them by the people through the constitution and therefore the president must learn the need to respect the independence of the judiciary and the orders that emanate from the court.
Okanda observed that the constitution is very elaborate in terms of providing mechanisms if anybody feels dissatisfied with orders that are coming from the courts.
"If the president or anybody in the executive feels that the courts are issuing orders that are not proper, they have channels through which they can challenge those orders," Okanda added.
The legal mind asked President Ruto to consider following legal procedures in his accusation of judges and magistrates.
"If they are feeling that any member of the judiciary does not live up to the oath of their office, there are proper channels within the law upon which such judges or magistrates can be removed from office," he said.
Advocate Oduol Aluoch affirmed their support for the rule of law and fidelity to the Constitution, 2010.
"We want to affirm that in as long as we are alive, we shall continue to uphold the rule of law and the constitution and any State organ or officer under the illusion that they will willfully disobey the court orders and violate the constitution will be met with full force," said Oduol.
Oduol's voice was echoed by his colleague Ochanyo Onyango.
"We will maintain fidelity to the rule of law and defend the oath that we took as advocates to protect the rule of law. We just need to remind the president that court orders must be obeyed," Ochanyo said.
The lawyers recognized that there is a need to support the government to deliver on its mandate but only to the extent that the executive is in strict adherence to the confines of the law, not through coercion.
Accordingly, they encouraged public litigants like Senator Okiya Omtata to remain fearless.
"We encourage you to go to court as many times as possible to ensure that the government is put in check. We are not happy as a society that the government is hell-bent on insulting and abusing the judiciary," Okanda said.
