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{
"id": 1399605,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1399605/?format=api",
"text_counter": 309,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 13165,
"legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
"slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
},
"content": "we know that at the end of the day, those courts like the Magistrate Courts and the High Courts, have their cases drag on forever. I was watching news today and I was shocked that the High Court has today dismissed the 2013 case of that imposter of a police officer called Waiganjo. Even a kindergarten kid knows in this country that this was an impostor. He was exposed and was in police uniform. He was doing police duties. Police officers confessed, but a judge dismissed the case. The greatest disservice we ever did to ourselves is that the Judiciary, in the passage of the 2010 Constitution, succeeded in insulating themselves against any form of scrutiny. That so long as a judge knows that whatever decision they make in the course of their duty, there is nothing that can be done to them. We will continue to have this kind of struggle. We must ask of our Judiciary, with all these billions that we continue to send to the judicial systems of this country, how comes the convictions rate are so minimal? If you say it is a case of poor investigation, surely, you want to tell me that there is not even one good investigator or one good case that EACC has handled, that a judge can look at and say this is an open-shut case, call all the witnesses, have the responses filed and set a conviction even for these simple traffic offenses. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you have watched many times EACC raid the police officers by the roadside. If you want to kill that vice, how comes after that exposé you will never hear of that case again once they have been taken to court? This is because people know what happens. That the judges will most likely tell you to wait for the pressure to ease off. They are likely to be out on bail, then after maybe a few months, somebody reaches out to the judge from the accused side and say, ‘you know you are guilty, but if you can get me this--- Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we must speak about these issues. If we are to win this war and have a country that is governed by the rule of law, we must be able to look at our Judges right in the eye and tell them that they are doing a disservice to this country. Their handling of corruption cases is wanting. As we reflect and do this law, the Conflict of Interest Bill, which is good, Judges are also State officers. They will equally file their reports. It will be possible to look back and tell what business they have transacted. Unfortunately, people in this country know corruption only through the eyes of politicians. They only see MPs and maybe Cabinet Secretaries, yet to complete this circuit, we must have a conversation about what is it that we missed in our judicial system that will help us fine people. How many times have you seen the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) or the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) officers raid a county officer, a Chief Officer or a County Executive Committee (CEC) Member, found with money that they have collected as bribes, yet you know that, that case will never get anywhere? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I encourage colleagues, as much as you may have one or two reservations about this Bill and the overall thought process of trying to tighten the reins and noose around all these challenges that we have with our country and trying to make us a better nation, a nation that is governed by good values, let us support this Bill."
}