Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has urged President William Ruto to grant the Judiciary financial autonomy in order to ensure the judicial arm of government is independent of the Executive arm.
Speaking at the inauguration of Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir on Thursday, Kalonzo stated that Kenya requires a Judiciary independent of the Head of State, which he described as urgent in Dr. Ruto’s administration.
“As a Senior Counsel, I would want to see a really independent Judiciary. Otherwise if we don’t have a free Judiciary, with the way we are seeing the executive conducting itself, we will not have a country,” the Wiper Leader said.
He lauded the new President for signing an Executive Order granting financial independence to the National Police Service and called for the same for the judiciary.
“I want to congratulate the president for giving the police an independent budget, but I would want to see the Judiciary taking control of its own money, not being given money as if it is being given handouts,” said Kalonzo.
“The moment you disconnect the Judiciary from the Executive in terms of budgets, will will be headed in the right direction.”
President Ruto said in his first address to the nation after being sworn in on Tuesday that the order will make the Inspector General an Accounting Officer for funds allocated to the police.
While the IG has constitutional authority to exercise independent command over the NPS, Ruto claims that the office’s operational autonomy has been undermined by financial reliance on the President’s Office.
“As I address you, I have instructed that the instruments conferring financial autonomy to the National Police Service by transferring their budget from the Office of the present and designating the Inspector General as the accounting officer be placed on my desk for signature this afternoon,” President Ruto said.
The move, according to the Head of State, is intended to combat graft and political weaponization of the country’s criminal justice system.
