Kimani Ichung'wa, a Kikuyu MP and National Assembly majority leader, has disclosed state plans to eradicate dishonest judges.
Ichung'wa lamented a small number of dishonest officials within the institution whose dishonest dealings are damaging the Judiciary's reputation, even though he acknowledged that the Judiciary has generally been functioning optimally and within the bounds of the constitution.
"The performance of the Judiciary in its entirety is okay but there are challenges. It is not a blanket condemnation of the Judiciary because there are many good judicial officers and the President and I spoke about judiciary officers, not the entire Judiciary," Ichung'wa told the Nation.
"When we say that we shall not just speak about corruption but we shall act, that does not exclude officers from the Judiciary that are corrupt. Those judicial officers shall fall. No one is immune to the fight against corruption."
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The Kikuyu MP also criticized the corrupt judiciary officers for overstepping their bounds. The MP brought up instances of judicial overreach when the government felt that appropriate legal frameworks had been established.
Similarly, he charged the judges with working with cartels to thwart Kenya Kwanza's development projects.
"It is not just those two cases of Housing Levy and Universal Health Care. Remember the housing one is the matter that is carried in the Finance Act case that is already in court. The court found that there are certain issues that the government or Parliament needed to create better legal anchorage on, especially around the operationalisation of the Act," he said.
"We advertised for public participation. So is the universal health cover that someone has gone to court to stop regulations of UHC. What else would you call that other than judicial overreach?"
When questioned about the corrupt elements in the Judiciary, Ichung'wa showed that he was unwilling to talk about individual judges or members of the government apparatus.
"I shall not get into discussing individual judges. I have only stated a fact that there is corruption within the Judiciary just like there could be corruption in other institutions," he said.
"Anybody within the three arms of government who is engaging in corrupt activities has everything to be afraid of because it will catch up with you, because it will not just be a talk about the fight against corruption."
