Justice Koome’s state house visit was personal, says LSK presidential aspirant

The law society of Kenya’s (LSK) presidential Aspirant Peter Manyonge Wanyama has faulted the chief justice Martha Koome for visiting the state House without the consent of the legal stakeholders.

Justice Koome met President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi on January 22, rfollowing public pronouncements by the two, who said they are ready to meet and resolve the tiff between the judiciary and executive.

In a media address by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on January 15, Koome said the commission had reached out to President Ruto for a meeting to discuss any issues they have with the judicial arm.

The president would later, on January 16, welcome the Judiciary’s call for talks, saying it should involve the leadership of the three arms of government.

“The meeting should be between executive (led by Ruto), judiciary (led by Koome) and legislature (led by Speakers). I am ready for the conversation on how we are going to deal with vested interests, incompetence and corruption,” Ruto said in a Rally at Nandi County.

Ruto has in recent days mounted a war against the Koome-led judicial arm of government, accusing it of sabotaging his government’s agenda.

The meeting however did not auger well with LSK members who viewed it as an act of betrayal by the Supreme Court head.

“The meeting was meant to benefit Justice Koome and should not be linked with any stakeholders in the legal fraternity. The visit was unwarranted, unnecessary and an insult to the legal fraternity who have been despised by the executive,” said Wanyama.

He further took a swipe at the deputy president Rigathi Gachagua for demanding that the LSK must be a government friendly noting that the body was independent and therefore cannot be controlled by the executive.

“Everyone must respect the constitution and the recent utterances by  the president and his deputy was an insult to the gains made in protecting the rule of law,” he said while pledging to safeguard the constitution from “mutilation by the executive.”

The LSK top contender further pledged to weed out quacks from the profession, and champion for proper remuneration of lawyers if elected president.