Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has taken a jab at his predecessor Rigathi Gachagua accusing him of tribalizing the removal of Supreme Court judges.
In a statement mead on his X account, Kindiki questioned why Gachagua would defend judges accused of misconduct but lacking ‘ethnic godfathers’ to support them.
The DP said the removal of the apex judges is based on the constitution and not politics or ethnicity.
“Removal of a judge from office is purely a constitutional matter and not a political or ethnic issue,” Kindiki stated.
“Accusers and defenders of judges must use constitutional and legal arguments to state their positions rather than trivializing such a weighty legal matter by bringing ethnicity into the equation. Who defends the judges who may be innocent but do not have ethnic godfathers?” He added.
The statement by Kindiki comes hours after the former impeached Deputy President announced that he would call out for protests if the Chief Justice Martha Koome and her bench are removed from office.
Gachagua accussed president William Ruto of purging Mount Kenya leaders who helped him ascend to power.
The statement by Gachagua yesterday comes after a consistent push by former Law Society of Kenya President Nelson Havi and Senior Counsel Ahmednassir to have an overhaul of the apex court.
Gachagua’s impassioned address during his address in Meru over the alleged plan by President Ruto to unseat CJ Koome has since triggered a lot of responses, re-igniting the debate.
Havi has faulted Gachagua for attacking Ruto instead of him saying that the ‘war’ with the apex court is his.
“Why is Rigathi Gachagua threatening President William Ruto over the removal of the recalcitrant Martha Koome from office? Let him threaten and order protests against me. I have been consistent on the unsuitability of Koome from the day she applied for the office of CJ. It is my war,” Havi stated.
However, so far the efforts to unseat CJ Koome and the bench have hit a roadblock as high courts in Nairobi and Narok issued orders stopping the Judicial Service Commission from acting on the filed petitions.
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