A section of leaders allied to Deputy President William Ruto have slammed former Prime Minister Raila Odinga over his statement regarding the rejection of six judges by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
In a statement on Saturday, Odinga asked President Kenyatta to publicly share the specific integrity issues against six Judicial Service Commission (JSC) nominees he omitted in recent appointments.
According to Odinga, Kenya cannot survive a supremacy war between its institutions urging the three arms of the Government to seek common ground.
"In the current stand-off over the refusal by the President to appoint six out of the 41 judges nominated by the Judicial Service Commission for superior courts, I challenge the Executive arm of government, to share with the Judiciary and the public the concerns and evidence that led to the rejection of the six," part of Odinga's statement reads.
Reacting to the statement, a section of Ruto’s allies claimed that Raila was afraid of bashing the executive due to his handshake with the president.
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Senator Millicent Omanga in a Twitter thread appeared to suggest that Odinga had abandoned Kenyans following his handshake with the Head of State.
“Raila Odinga's statement asking executive to release so called Intel on the 6 judges to the public is deeply troubling. What Raila is asking the president to do is to publicly lynch the 6 and taint their image in the eyes if the public as he cheers.
“I understand the precarious position the former PM finds himself. Being a personal and singular beneficiary of the handshake he has to behave like the executive for as you know, it's bad manners to speak with your mouth full,” she tweeted.
Her point of view was echoed by the DP’s Communication Director Emmanuel Tallam who noted that: “Rt. Hon Odinga must choose where he belongs; opposition or government. He has been the cheer leader for the Jubilee Executive under the "elaborate handshake arrangement". You can't fight the hand that feeds you.”
Former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale also weighed in on the debate stating that: “If you (Raila) can't gather the courage to tell President Uhuru to uphold the constitution and respect court orders, please shut up..”
The statement also elicited reactions from the legal field, with lawyers like Ahmednasir Abdullahi stating that it is “cowardly”.
“Hon Raila's statement on the 6 judges H.E Uhuru refused to swear is toadying and cowardly. But being an important member of the handshake coalition that rules Kenya, Kenyans understand Raila can't bite the hand that feeds him!” Ahmednasir tweeted.
