Deputy President William on Monday endured jeers at the Bomas of Kenya during the launch of the Building Bridges Initiative report.
His speech had an anti-climax with the crowd chanting, “Respect the President”.
The second in command tried to calm the crowd, saying he was about to finish, adding he had listened to other views and he should be listened to, but the delegates at Bomas would hear none of it.
The DP initially said the proposal on the establishment of the office of Ombudsman, which will be appointed by the Executive is a derogation of the independence of the Judiciary.
Ruto said that this might take the country back to the dark days, where the president used to issue guidelines to judges in some cases via a mere phone call.
He said that majority of Kenyans are still struggling to access justice, and that some matters are yet to be handled as per the Constitution.
“We need to operationalise the Judiciary fund that is already in the Constitution so that the Judiciary can establish more courts, hire more judges and more staff so that more Kenyans can have access to justice,” Ruto said.
Regarding the suggested establishment of the office of the Ombudsman, Ruto said that it will interfere with the judicial performance as well as its independence.
“On the matter of the judiciary allow me to say that there is a huge space to have an improvement on the proposal that has been made… Having an ombudsman appointed by the Executive into the Judiciary is a derogation from the independence of the institution.”
On the proposals to IEBC, Ruto said that it is not clear and it has not issued a solution to the winner-takes it all perception in the country when it comes to election.
“The question I’m asking myself is, have we solved the winner takes all equation…the real elephant in this whole conversation was what was identified as winner-take-all and aspect of inclusivity”
The DP, used Raila’s football comments to illustrate the winner takes it all, which almost brought things to a standstill in Bomas.
“How fare will a league be, where a referee is appointed by teams, and not all the teams but some teams?”
“…unless you tell me that it is okay for some teams to appoint the referee…and if that is what you are saying, I have my reservation.”
Ruto, also touched on the suggestion directed to the National Police Service and the National Police Commission.
He said that the 2010 Constitution had made it clear that the police must act independently of any politician, whether they are in government or in the opposition.
“To recommend that we will have a police council, chaired by a CS is actually a derogation from the independence of the police.”
On the proposal to boost devolution, Ruto said that increasing resources to counties from the current 15 per cent to 35 per cent will need to be accompanied by strengthening the Senate.
He also highlighted his opinion regarding the removal of the Woman Representative from the Parliament, saying that the same need to be rectified.
Ruto, added that the issue of job creation as well as boosting the youths in business needs to be relooked at.
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