Africa lawyers' body and the South African Judiciary have urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to respect the Kenyan Judiciary following his recent attack on the Supreme Court.
African judges warn Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta against attacks on Judiciary
This comes days after the President said that the country's Judiciary has a problem and vowed to 'fix' it.
The Conference of Constitutional Jurisdictions of Africa (CCJA) and the South African Judiciary say they are deeply concerned about the remarks made by President Kenyatta about Chief Justice David Maraga and other colleagues in the Kenyan Judiciary following the nullification of his election win.
Last week, Kenya's Supreme Courtcancelled the country's election results, citing irregularities in the voting system. Kenyatta accepted the ruling, but reportedly called the judges ‘crooks’.CCJA President and Chief Justice of South Africa Mogoeng Mogoeng said the remarks are most unfortunate, ill-advised and disturbing.
“These widely televised and publicized remarks are most unfortunate, ill-advised and disturbing because of their potentially inciteful nature coming from the Head of State. This is especially so when made in an electoral atmosphere that was not completely free of extreme tension and fairly serious incidents of violence,”said Mogoeng in a statement.
The Chief Justice extended his support to his Kenyan counterpart and the judiciary for their commitment to their oath of office.
He pointed out that Kenya’s Supreme Court should be commended and emulated for having discharged their constitutional mandate.
“We hereby express our unwavering support to the Chief Justice and the Kenyan Judiciary for their commitment to uphold their oath of office which requires of them to act in terms of the Constitution and the law and without fear, favour and prejudice,” he added.
In the invalidated election, President Kenyatta of the Jubilee Party got 8,203,290 votes against National Super Alliance (NASA) candidate Odinga’s 6,762,224 votes.
In his ruling Chief Justice David Maraga said the electoral authority failed to conduct the ballot in line with the constitution. He ordered a new vote to be held within 60 days to which the IEBClater on Monday announced that the elections will be held on 17 October.
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