City lawyer Duncan Okatch has faulted Chief Justice David Maraga's move to snub yesterday's (Thursday) Jamhuri Day celebrations at the Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi.
Speaking on Friday, Okatch noted that this comes as a confirmation that the government is divided and its three arms are not working in unison as should be the case.
He stated that this comes as a blow to the country's togetherness campaign, specifically Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which has been established by the executive for that purpose.
The lawyer observed that the snub came as a contradiction within the same government seeking to unite Kenyans since its itself grappling with division at the highest level.
"For us, it behoves us to pick it from there; that is this the kind of government we want? Whereby it is not working in unison? We have the BBI issue we want all of us to be working in unison, let's not belittle the judiciary," he said on a live interview.
According to Okatch, the snub was a realization of Maraga's threat to choose state functions to attend and which not to, over claims that the executive has been belittling the judiciary.
However, he faulted the arm, which was completely not represented in Nyayo, saying that it should have communicated that it will not be in attendance rather than just keeping off.
"This is a state function, state function is for all state officers, they are all invited individually and if you are not going to attend, all that you are supposed to do is communicate," he added.
Unaware of his absence, Deputy President William Ruto, when called to the stage to acknowledge present state officers, proceeded to acknowledge the CJ.