Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Friday attacked Chief Justice Martha Koome and Justice Isaac Lenaola over the Supreme Court ruling that was delivered on September 5, 2022.
Raila, who was the Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate lost the presidential petition he had taken to the Supreme Court through a unanimous decision by the seven Supreme Court judges.
On Friday, Raila claimed that Chief Justice Koome had ruined the Judiciary. He also accused Justice Lenaola of threatening to sue Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah who was one of the petitioners in the case.
“Chief Justice Koome has gone to a funeral in her village and defended the judgement. Supreme court is now in politics, she said the ruling was inspired by God, I believe it was inspired by the devil,” said Raila.
He alleged that in less than one year, Chief Justice Koome had ruined what her predecessors had built in 10 years.
“Chief Justice Koome’s actions are clearly sycophantic, she has demeaned the dignity of the office of the Chief Justice. In less than a year, she has destroyed what her predecessors achieved in 10 years,” he said.
“Raila also took issue with the loss of his petition, which he said had been presented by Kenya’s top legal minds. “CJ Koome described our case, presented by the country’s finest legal minds as not more than hot air, wild goose chase and hearsay evidence, whenever judges results to insults, it is the result of a disturbed conscience,” he said.
He further alleged that the decision by President William Ruto to appoint the six judges whose appointment had been blocked by former president Uhuru Kenyatta was an attempt to gain favour with the Judiciary.
“There is a push by the executive to own the judiciary through illegal actions that amount to bribery. That is the reason for the rush to appoint 6 judges and allocate money to the Judiciary,” he said.
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This was despite his lead counsel in the presidential petition Siaya Governor James Orengo commending President Ruto for appointing the judges. According Orengo, there was no justification why their appointment was blocked by Uhuru.
