Judiciary under fire, CJ Maraga defends team

The Judiciary on Friday found itself under sharp criticism from the other arms of government accusing it of frustrating the war on corruption.

Speaking during the anti-corruption conference at Bomas in Nairobi, Chief Justice David Maraga however fought back the criticism, saying the war against corruption will not be won by blame games and Friday arrests.

“Let us stop these Friday arrests. Such things distract us and we end up spending a lot of time discussing unnecessary things,” said Maraga.

According to the CJ, the Constitution guarantees an accused person the right to be heard, to be presumed innocent until proven guilty as fair hearing is for all.

“We don’t go out there looking for cases. I can’t just throw out all such petitions without hearing them. This war against corruption must be won by the application of the law,” said CJ Maraga.

Maraga sought to clarify that that the war against corruption can only be won by concrete evidence brought before court saying that the law has its requirements.

This comes just a day after the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss George Kinoti complained of ‘strange court orders’.

Maraga has instead called on the office of Ombudsman to investigate some of the complaints against their own people and gather evidence adding that whoever will be found guilty will be dealt with by the Judicial Service Commission.

CJ Maraga however acknowledged delays in some cases faulting a section of judges and magistrates for allowing the lawyers to control the process.

“I have told the judges and magistrates not to adjourn cases without a justifiable reason,” said Maraga.

The CJ cited the lack of evidence, poor way of framing cases and insufficient funding as the major reasons leading to collapse and delay in graft-related cases.

The CJ now says that if the issues are not addressed, the successful prosecution of such could still prove elusive.

On his part, President Uhuru Kenyatta called on the Judicial Service Commission to look into loopholes derailing the justice system.