The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has declared that President William Ruto was pushing for a weak judiciary in order to have a weak scrutiny of his regime.

This was revealed during the ODM central committee meeting on January 10, 2024, as party leaders noted that  the judiciary is the last line of defence for Kenyans against President Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza regime.

“Recent utterances by Mr Ruto threatening the independence of the judiciary, however, will not surprise those who know and understand Ruto, his history and his politics.

“It is obviously in the interest of Mr Ruto to have a weak judiciary, weak national institutions and weak scrutiny on his regime,” read part of the ODM statement. 

The Raila Odinga led party maintained that the constitutional gains made in the country cannot be wiped away overnight on the whims of one individual. 

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“What’s worse is his failure to realize the damage his repeated unsubstantiated allegations against the Judiciary is doing to the image and standing of our Country in the Community of Kenyans,” the ODM noted. 

ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna explained that investors will not put their money in a country where they know orders of a court will not be respected in the event of a dispute regarding their investment. 

The ODM secretary general also appealed to Kenyans to remain awake and alert against the return of dictatorship and greed in Kenya.

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“Ruto attacks on the Judiciary with his presidency, having hinged much on a judgment that essentially makes it a ‘product’ of the courts, you would imagine that Ruto would have both the magnanimity and the good sense to extend goodwill, or at the very least, to leave constitutional organs to function without attempting to emasculate them,” he noted. 

At the same time, ODM maintained its commitment to support the national dialogue committee report. 

“We note that 18 of the 31 proposals we made as a Party were adopted in the report, constituting 58% of the final draft. 

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“These included reduction of the ballooning travel budget, increasing of minimum shareable revenue to counties and fast tracking of legislation related to the war against corruption. This is a good start,” the party noted in a statement. 

In addition, the opposition party noted that it was aware of the suffering of Kenyans as a result of the high cost of living, adding that proposals on zero-rating taxes on basic food items, reverting turnover tax to rates in Finance Act 2023 and scrapping of the Housing Levy were rejected by Kenya Kwanza.