President William Ruto has refuted claims by the Azimio Coalition that he has captured the criminal justice system to have corruption cases against his sycophants withdrawn.
Opposition chief Raila Odinga has accused Ruto of piling pressure on the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr.Noordin Haji, to drop corruption-related charges against his close allies and tribesmen.
But the President has fired back at the opposition outfit as he affirms his commitment to allowing the ODPP to work independently without any political influence.
The Azimio leader claimed that Haji has been withdrawing cases based on instructions from President Ruto and not discharging his mandate independently as prescribed in the law.
“I have not asked the Director of Public Prosecutions’ office to do any favour for us in return for funding of their office,” Ruto said.
The President stated that his administration is not meddling in the affairs of independent offices within the criminal justice system to achieve his political goals, as claimed by Odinga.
“It is their right to discharge their mandate as an office, a mandate given to them by the constitution of Kenya and we have no trade-offs and we will have none,” the president said.
Mzee Odinga has been censuring President Ruto over a wave of withdrawal of corruption-related charges touching on the president’s political allies, including Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi, Gender & Public Service CS Aisha Jumwa, former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko, and former Kenya Power managing directors Ben Chumo and Ken Tarus.
He claimed that the DPP had been instructed to drop the high-profile cases in return for state funding. Former government officials and businessmen charged during the reign of former President Uhuru Kenyata have had their cases dropped by the DPP Haji over lack of sufficient evidence.
Last week, the DPP withdrew the Sh-11 billion corruption charges against former National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) Chief Executive Office Geoffrey Mwangi.
