Civil Society’s apology to Judiciary

The Civil society is on the spot after accusations it leveled against the judiciary turned out to be inaccurate. The human rights group recently accused Chief Justice Martha Koome of presiding over the swearing-in of 50 Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS) against the law. The swearing-in was held at State House, Nairobi, in the presence of President William Ruto, First Lady Rachel, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, and Musalia Mudavadi, the Prime Cabinet Secretary. “The case, challenging the appointments of CAS's, was due for a mention. The Judiciary has had numerous opportunities to stop these illegal appointments, but failed to act,” the group said in a press statement. The judiciary has since clarified it did not facilitate the swearing-in of the 50 CAS's at State House. "The Judiciary has no role in the swearing-in of chief administrative secretaries," its statement confirmed. This led to an apology by the human rights group. “We are concerned that Kenya is slowly sliding down a dangerous path where the Executive increasingly engages in illegalities and defies the rule of law. In light of this, we publicly decried the swearing-in of Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS) against a litany of cases filed in court to challenge the proposed office of CAS. We have read the statement by the Judiciary issued on the 25th March 2023 stating that it did not facilitate the swearing-in of the 50 illegal CAS at Statehouse, Nairobi and is never engaged in swearing in the Executive save for the Presidency,” the statement wrote. “We appreciate this clarification. In light of the clarification, we retract our statement regarding a top Judiciary official facilitating the swearing-in of CAS on 23rd March 2023 and apologize unreservedly for that error,” read the statement. The appointment of the CAS's has led to a public uproar with a section of Kenyans describing it as unnecessary, especially at a time the standard of living is at an all-time high. The new appointments are expected to cost the taxpayers billions of shillings in salaries and other expenses. Also read: How police arrested Azimio diehard Nuru Okang’a