Uhuru now hails Judiciary’s independence in change of heart
In what could be described as the biggest U-turn of 2017, President Uhuru Kenyatta now says that the Supreme Court handled presidential election petitions independently.
In his speech soon after being sworn in for his second term as the president of the republic of Kenya, he singled out the apex court from the whole judiciary.
“Our Judiciary – particularly the Supreme Court – adjudicated our electoral petitions with independence,” said President Kenyatta.
He, however, pointed out that his government intends to engage with the judiciary on matters to do with delays in the justice system especially on ones which directly affect delivery of services to the public.
He said delays in the justice system in such matters make the taxpayers run into unnecessary losses.
Soon after the Supreme Court nullified the August 8 presidential election results, political leaders including the president and his deputy William Ruto resorted to calling it all sorts of names.
ATTRACTED ATTENTION
The name calling attracted attention from different quarters who condemned the attacks against the judiciary as an assault.
On November 20, when the top court dismissed the second presidential election petition, Jubilee affiliated leaders praised the court.
Attorney General Githu Muigai hinted at another round of changes to the law to ensure that in future, presidential elections are not based on what he described as “simple issues”.
Addressing journalists on that day, Prof Muigai said that the Jubilee administration will oversee changes on the law on presidential election petitions.
“There is need to rethink the entire petition regulatory law, standards used in one or two instances have fallen before international best practices based on simple issue,” he said.
But the President’s commendation on the Supreme Court perhaps could just be a start of a new beginning of a mended relationship between the executive and the judiciary.