Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has accused the Executive and National Assembly of frustrating the Judiciary\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n
Dr Mutunga said the Justice David Maraga-led arm of the government must be funded adequately to carry out its mandate.Mutunga said enough funds would ensure the Judiciary was not \u2018enslaved\u2019 by the Executive and cartels.<\/p>\n
He spoke during an\u00a0exhibition to celebrate Kenyan heroes at the Kenya Methodist University in Meru. The former CJ was invited by Vice-Chancellor Maurice Okoth.<\/p>\n
Adequate fundingHe said adequate funding would ensure judges and magistrates operated in a conducive atmosphere.\u201cIndependence of the Judiciary is very critical,\u201d said Mutunga.<\/p>\n
He said when he took over as the CJ, the Judiciary had a budget of Sh3 billion but it was increased to Sh21 billion.\u201cWe built courts and did a lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mutunga, who recalled having surmounted odds, as some leaders were opposed to his appointment as CJ partly because he was a civil rights activist, castigated the Executive and the National Assembly for interfering with the Judiciary.\u201cWe must make it clear to Executive and assembly that the money is not theirs. Judiciary is the victim.<\/p>\n
But Kenyans think Judiciary is the problem,\u201d he said.He said there should be no grudges against the Judiciary.At the same time, Mutunga questioned the source of funding being used to stage public rallies as leaders try to sell the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) to Kenyans.He said while the politicians behind the BBI had a right of assembly and expression, public resources should not be used for such rallies.<\/p>\n
Mutunga said public resources should not be used for politics and appealed to\u00a0media to be apolitical.The exhibition whose theme was \u2018Alternative political leadership\u2019 was organised by Team Courage, a movement seeking to bring positive change in the country. The forum celebrated heroes from all spheres, including politicians, environmentalists and civil society crusaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has accused the Executive and National Assembly of frustrating the Judiciary\u2019s independence. Dr Mutunga said the Justice David Maraga-led arm of the government must be funded adequately to carry out its mandate.Mutunga said enough funds would ensure the Judiciary was not \u2018enslaved\u2019 by the Executive and cartels. He spoke during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[1022,1019,1021,1020],"class_list":["post-1712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-funds","tag-justice-david-maraga","tag-national-assembly","tag-willy-mutunga"],"yoast_head":"\n