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{
    "id": 1121428,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1121428/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 173,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": "I would plead with the Executive that if we want to move forward in the vision of this Constitution that we have, we need obedience of court orders. We may disagree with court orders and people do disagree, but there is a process of disagreeing. The worst thing is if the Executive is disobeying court orders. If the Executive is disobeying court orders, why should ordinary people obey court orders? They should not be obeying court orders if the Government, which is supposed to be obeying court orders, is not doing so. Madam Temporary Speaker, I remember once when we went before the High Court under the leadership of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Muliro and Shikuku when he wanted to go to Kamukunji. We were seeking a decision from the High Court challenging the directive by the police that we could not hold a meeting. We decided to withdraw the case because we knew that if the court made the decision, then we would be required to comply with that decision of the court. We were trying to tell Kenyans that we want to build a new Kenya based on democracy and the rule of law. We could not see ourselves, that if the judges made a ruling that we could not go to Kamukunji, then we would be disobeying the court order. What we did was to withdraw the case and then went to Kamukunji and the rest of it is history. I would like to tell my Chairman that this is one of the issues he should not run away from. I think he should continue to pursue this matter. I did not sign the report because I was away when it was being signed, but it speaks volumes that the Attorney- General Emeritus also signed this Report. I am sure if he was available today, he would be making a great speech why Kenya will go down the drain if we do not find it as part of our judicial system, based on the rule of law that the highest powers in the land can disobey court orders without a consequence. Then there is no need; we should not have the courts at all. I think we should abolish the courts if court orders will not be respected. The other bad thing which the Chairman emphasized is that once we find that a Judge cannot qualify to go to the Court of Appeal on grounds of integrity, then that Judge should not even sit in the High Court or hold any judicial office. Why is the Government comfortable standing in the way for these Judges to move to the Court of Appeal or to those judicial offices, but the Government is not doing anything for their stay in the offices they occupy now as judicial officers? We should be having petitions for their removal if indeed there is concrete evidence against these particular Judges. I plead that the foundation of a democratic society, the guarantor of a democratic society is our courts and the judicial system. I have been reading and following quite a lot of what has been happening in the United States of America, where there was an insurrection on 6th January, this year. Even judges that were appointed by President Donald trump going against the wishes of their appointing authority or the person responsible for appointing them, believe in the rule of law. This is a matter that generates a lot of emotion from me. I appeared before a Judge called Justice Dugdale, who was just an instrument of the Executive. I was addressing the court and he wanted to put me to arrest for what I was saying in court as a judicial officer. He was very comfortable saying that because he knew he was an instrument of the Executive."
}