Tempers flare at Statehouse – Weekly Citizen

The High Court ruling that threw the Building Bridges Initiative into disarray has split Uhuru Kenyatta’s
kitchen cabinet. Weekly Citizen has information, Uhuru keenly followed the live proceedings of the ruling surrounded by his handlers. His handshake partner Raila Odinga was holed up in his Malindi palatial seashore home his eyes glued on the television screen. Raila has been advised to go and rest in hot Malindi to avoid the cool Nairobi weather. Reports indicate, immediately after the ruling, Uhuru was livid with rage on the manner in which the five bench ruling kept referring to him as Mr. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and went ahead to declare, the president had contravened section 6 of the constitution. The president, according to the judges, had failed to respect, uphold and safeguard the constitution. In short, Uhuru is
not worth being the head of state. Talk is rife within State House, someone given duties by the president to handle his petty project slept on the job.

David Kenani Maraga

The questions that arose immediately after the ruling was if the legal team surrounding president Uhuru was aware some of the High Court judges appointed by former Chief Justice David Maraga to handle the constitutionality and legality of BBI process had a beef with the president. The five-judge bench was led by Justice Joel Ngugi. Others were George Odunga, Ngaah Jairus, Chacha Mwita and Mumbua Matheka. Ngugi, Odunga and Mwita are on the list of judges Uhuru has refused to elevate from High Court to Court of Appeal. According to sources, Justice Ngugi is close to Makau Mutua, a US-based Kenyan lawyer. Ngugi is the presiding judge at Nakuru High Court. He was law professor at University of Washington. He did his Bachelor’s degree at University of Nairobi graduating in 1996 and holds a Masters degree from Harvard University.

Martha Koome

In Maraga succession, Justice Ngugi was among lawyers against Justice Martha Koome. The Karen gang of lawyers, as they are commonly referred to, is composed of Ahmednassir Abdullahi, Paul Muite, Mutua and the Law Society of Kenya president Nelson Havi. Havi was one of those who moved to court to block the BBI referendum. Havi and Ahmednassir are openly allied to William Ruto in Uhuru succession. State House operatives have taken issue with Attorney General Paul Kariuki, whose appointment to the plum position was not on merit but due to his family relationship with the Kenyattas. The AG’s father, for years, served as Anglican Church bishop and was close to president Jomo Kenyatta. It is whispered, European missionaries pushed Kihara against his wishes to be a lawyer. Another lawyer with questionable experience around Uhuru is Njee Muturi. Muturi is a senior State House officer, who during his tenure as Solicitor General during Uhuru’s first term in power, was miserable.

George Odunga

Being Uhuru’s long term friend, the president created for him a position at State House to accommodate him. How the AG failed to understand, Maraga composition of the five judge bench was aimed at fixing Uhuru, has left many wondering aloud. It is also imperative to note, the said bench had the support of Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu who is at war with the executive. After suffering a string of losses in the national assembly and the senate, which had approved the BBI Bill, State House concern is Ruto’s ambition for presidency in 2022 general election has now been emboldened by the High Court ruling declaring the BBI unconstitutional, null and void. Ruto, whom many had dismissed as a man whose fate was hanging on a cliff after the national assembly and senate unanimously approved the BBI Bill, has now received a fresh impetus to take head-on his detractors Uhuru and ODM leader Raila who are politically deflated.

Nelson Havi

Due to the blunder by AG, insiders revealed, the concern is not the court ruling but the Ruto factor, hence need to act fast. Ruto, to them, is using the ruling to rebrand to win a national constituency after Uhuru and Raila were not only politically jolted but also lost face locally and internationally for backing a flawed constitutional process. A section of powerful forces argue, Uhuru and Raila are poor students of history as they would have smelt the coffee when Maraga, in December 2020, picked the five-judge bench to hear and determine the case filed by economist David Ndii and four others challenging the constitutional amendments.

Njee Muturi

Maraga who since he led the Supreme Court bench in annulling Uhuru’s win in the presidential race in the August 8 2017 general election had a frosty relations with the head of state, picked Ngugi, Odunga, Ngaah, Mulwa and Mwita to hear the petitions knowing too well they had no time for the former Gatundu South MP.The bench that sat in March this year amalgamated the eight cases into one but at the time Maraga had retired and the process for his replacement had commenced. When the bench started hearing the consolidated cases, Maraga left Justice Mwilu at the helm as the acting as CJ. Though Mwilu did not pick the bench, she too like Maraga has chilly relationship with the president for she believes the head of state placed hurdles on her way to ensure she did not succeed Maraga as Chief Justice. Mwilu did not even apply for the CJ’s position as she knew she was enemy of the deep state.

Francis Atwoli

For Maraga, he had deliberately picked the five to hear the consolidated petitions on the BBI filed by Ndii who is now the deputy president’s economic adviser. Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli did not have kind words for the judges more so in the manner they disrespected the president even going ahead to propose his impeachment. To Atwoli and State House operatives, the call to impeach Uhuru was aimed at sneaking Ruto to power. Maraga had appealed to the president to swear in the 41 new judges and at one time publicly reprimanded the president for failing to do so and also directing parliament to cut the judiciary’s budget. It was argued that the National Intelligence Service had compiled a damning dossier which implicated some of those nominated by JSC as judges in illegal activities.

James Orengo

What made matters worse for Uhuru is that some of the lawyers representing the petitioners have links with the deputy president, the most notable being Havi and they too had a bone to pick with Uhuru. But what has stunned a section of Uhuru inner core is the fact that the AG failed to read between the lines when Maraga picked judges led by the no-nonsense Ngugi. The JSC had recommended Justices Ngugi, Odunga and Mwita be promoted to the Court of Appeal from the High Court. By picking them to determine the case, Maraga knew they owed Uhuru no favours and no wonder they ruled that the president does not have the power to directly initiate constitutional amendments and also he is liable for sins of omission and commission he commits when in office. Curiously, Siaya senator James Orengo and Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo had gotten wind of the ruling days before it was delivered and that explains why they shouted on top of rooftops that the BBI was unconstitutional.

Otiende Amollo

But Orengo and Amollo were silenced by hardliners in Raila’s camp who accused them of going to bed with the ODM leader’s rivals. Orengo is close to Justice Odunga while Omollo is a confidante of Justice Matheka. Insiders added that the ruling also questions the credibility of briefs the president gets. How the president’s handlers failed to realise that the parties in the case, including the LSK, which had termed his failure to appoint judges as a gross violation of the constitution, would conversely be brought together by common interest is anyone’s guess. Havi who represented some of the petitioners had even sent a petition to parliament and senate to put the president on trial for gross violation of the constitution by failing to swear in the 41 judges. The ruling by the five judges also brought to the spotlight fissures in the president’s legal team which
many believe is dysfunctional and out of touch with reality. The president’s main legal advisers are AG Kariuki and State House deputy chief of staff Muturi, two individuals who have never practiced as advocates.

Kihara Kariuki

For the AG, a relative of the president as he is the son of Bishop Obadiah Kariuki and Lillian Wairimu, the daughter of Senior Chief Koinange, where Kenyatta’s second wife, Grace Wahu hails from, he has never practiced as an advocate having only served as a judge. For Muturi, an Indian trained advocate, he has no experience in legal practice having acted as Uhuru’s personal assistant before he was appointed Solicitor General where his performance is described by many as dismal. Kihara and Muturi took the centerstage in Uhuru’s legal team after the president sidelined some of the lawyers instrumental in his elections victory in the last two general elections. First to go was former attorney general Githu Muigai, a constitutional scholar who is credited with sanitising Uhuru’s legal mess in his first term as president.

Githu Muigai

Githu’s departure was followed by the sidelining of lawyers Fred Ngatia and Ahmednasir who acted for the head of state in the two petitions he faced at the Supreme Court challenging his win in the 2013 and 2017 general elections. Ngatia was even knocked out by the deep state in the race to succeed Justice Maraga as Chief Justice. The respected lawyer even argued his marks were deducted in a move meant to pave way for Justice Martha Koome to be elevated as Chief Justice. The two legal minds – Ngatia and Ahamednassir – are now believed to be in the deputy president’s camp pulling the strings from behind as they cry betrayal from the man they helped navigate legal hurdles in his first term as president. Insiders added that Ruto now believes Uhuru and Raila are deflated in their quest to politically annihilate him and how they handle the situation will expose them more.

Ahmednassir Abdullahi

According to sources, the ruling where the judges gave 14 orders so alarmed the president that he reportedly telephoned the Attorney General at night, instructing him to file an appeal immediately. Kariuki, through the Solicitor General Kennedy Ogeto, swiftly moved to seek an injunction against the implementation of the judgment arguing he was displeased with the shock ruling, especially after the judges declared that the bill was illegal as it flouted several clauses of the Constitution. For Ruto, sources added, he believes the AG’s appeal is a waste of time given the reasoning advanced by the five judges in declaring BBI illegal.

Kennedy Ogeto

His reasoning is that the five judges agreed with the petitioners that the process was beyond redemption and hence declared all the efforts made by the BBI team as illegal, including its composition, which now makes an appeal an exercise in futility. Ruto, whom days ago critics had dismissed as toothless dog following a string of losses in the national assembly and senate, which questioned his strength as a presidential candidate, has now received fresh impetus to reclaim his position as a leading contender for the presidency in 2022. The deputy president now firmly believes allies who fled from his camp over his stand on BBI, fearing persecution by the deep state, will now start trooping back to him as he remains the man to beat in the 2022 polls.

Roselyn Nambuye

The deputy president also believes it is time he capitalised on the internal wars in both the ruling Jubilee Party and ODM to his advantage by playing both the victim’s and victor’s card, depending on the prevailing conditions. Ruto believes the ruling’s biggest loser is Raila, a man who was banking on BBI passage to act as his springboard for his 2022 presidential campaigns. To the deputy president, the ODM leader is now in a quandary as he is at a loss over what to tell his support base which expected him to hammer a truce with Uhuru in 2022 polls and in return the deep state would deploy machinery to ensure he occupies the house on the hill. Insiders added that Ruto is also using the ruling to win over the judiciary by posing as a firm supporter of its independence.

Mohammed Warsame

Indeed, immediately after the ruling, the deputy president tweeted, invoking God’s name as having guided the judges. He tweeted: “There is GOD in heaven who loves Kenya immeasurably. May GOD’S name be PRAISED forever.” What the deputy president was doing through the tweet was to assure the legal fraternity that he is the best custodian of the Judiciary’s independence and hence they should back him in the presidential race. The tweet came days after the second in command accepted the verdict of the national assembly and senate in approving the BBI, another clever tactic to win over the masses as a democrat ready to accept the will of the people, even when he disagrees with their proposals. The ruling, insiders added, has further emboldened Ruto that he does not need Uhuru’s endorsement or support to clinch the presidency in 2022.

Hannah Okwengu

There are some in Ruto’s camp now alluding that Uhuru is the worst president since independence and that whoever he will back for the top seat will witness voters’ backlash, as he will be blamed for all his blunders. Uhuru is also the first sitting head of state to be indicted by a court, after the judges found he had violated the constitution and therefore fallen short of the Chapter Six on Integrity. Insiders added that eyes are now on the Court of Appeal where the AG has filed a petition to overturn the ruling. At the Court of Appeal, though considered friendly to the president, there is another disaster occasioned by Uhuru’s failure to appoint judges.

Kipchumba Murkomen

For now Judges to be picked from Court of Appeal bench to hear the appeal are Justice Roselyn Nambuye, Wanjiru Karanja, Hannah Okwengu, Mohamed Warsame, Milton Asike Makhandia, Daniel Musinga, Patrick Kiage, Steven Kairu, Kathurima M’inoti, Agnes Murgor, Fatuma Sichale, Jamila Mohammed and Sankale Ole Kantai. Sources say, State House operatives are against Warsame being on the appeal bench. The shortage of Court of Appeal judges is again blamed on Uhuru for failing to swear in the replacements of those who retired or died. By last week, a section of Uhuru handlers were scheming for the extension of the current parliament for two years due to the crisis created by the ruling. Unconfirmed reports have it, the ruling had the input of lawyers in the DP camp going by a section of the wordings more so Mr. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta mostly perfected by Senator Kipchumba Murkomen and Ahmednassir on Twitter platforms. Kariuki, apart from the BBI case, is also in trouble in the manner he is handling the Kenya Maritime case with Somalia at the International Criminal Court of Justice.