Ruto lobbying for the scrapping of presidential immunity
Ruto lobbying for the scrapping of presidential immunity which protects a sitting Head of State from facing criminal and civil proceedings.
According to the Kenyan constitution, a sitting Head of State cannot be charged with graft since they are shielded by Chapter 9’s Protection from Legal Proceedings.
However, Deputy President William Ruto is now pushing for the scrapping of presidential immunity.
On Wednesday, July 20, during an interview with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Ruto expressed his opinion that a sitting president who is accused of indulging in corruption should be charged in court.
The DP said that the present presidential immunity protected by Article 143 of the Kenyan Constitution of 2010 was harming the nation’s fight against corruption.
While claiming that the Head of State is the only one in charge of the present anti-corruption campaign, he also claimed that his allies are being singled out for investigation by investigating agencies.
“The budget of the investigative agencies is under the Office of the President (OP) and it limits their capacities on who to investigate. We want to give them their financial independence so that they can be able to investigate anybody irrespective of who they are including the president.
“We must build investigative agencies’ capacities to investigate public theft, state capture, and conflict of interest. There are countries that take their presidents to court because of corruption. We must take our country to that place,” Ruto told SABC’s Sarah Kimani.
Ruto further said that corruption cases should be handled within months as proposed by the Azimio coalition.
He, however, stated Raila Odinga, will not be able to deal with graft if elected president because he was enjoying the support of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“The plan of our competitors is to have a president somewhere jailing people which means he is above the law. The fight against corruption needs to be institutionalized.
“How will they jail the same people who are funding their campaigns?” Ruto posed.
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