President Uhuru Kenyatta. [Photo| ClickEye]
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto have cautioned the Judiciary, against aiding the opposition to scuttle the election process.
The two leaders said the Courts were increasingly getting entangled in the attempts by the opposition to delay the August 8 election.
They took issue with a recent statement by Chief Justice David Maraga directing IEBC not to print ballot papers until a case that was in court was decided. The CJ’s statement was quickly followed by a court order asking the IEBC not to proceed with the printing of Presidential ballot papers.
President Kenyatta, who spoke at Kabartonjo, said the orders being issued by the courts appear to be designed to scuttle the election and it was an unacceptable affair.
“You cannot claim independence and use it to interfere with the functioning of the Executive and other arms of government,” said the president, adding that the outcome of the election would be decided by the people and not the courts.
He said every Kenyan has known that elections would be held on August 8 and it would not be acceptable for the Judiciary to mess up the process.
He cited the example of the order on ballot papers coming weeks before August 8 as the latest of the court orders that have issued in favour of the opposition’s attempt to complicate the election and to intimidate the IEBC
“We have respected you for too long but do not take our silence as cowardice. We will not allow our competitors to use the courts to intimidate the IEBC,” warned.