Mutua; I support the CJ

By Caleb Mutua

The Chief justice Willy Mutunga expressed concerns for his life and that of the members of the judiciary yesterday, after he was sent a threatening letter with a rather bizarre header.

Apparently, the sender of the letter is Kenya Sovereignty Defence, a group linked to the outlawed Mungiki sect.

In the letter, the group threatened “dire consequences” to the chief justice and the judiciary if the court ruled against the eligibility of Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate William Ruto.

The two are the leaders of the Jubilee coalition and are facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.

Even though Dr Mutunga promised to fight for the implementation of the constitution even if it cost his life, this is a concern for all Kenyans.

The content of the “poison-pen letter” should be investigated and the perpetrators brought to book. But even more importantly, Kenyans should come together and refuse to be used by politicians.

During the historic presidential debate, Mr Uhuru made it very clear that the ICC case was “his personal challenge” arguing that all the other presidential hopefuls had their personal issues.

Well, to that extend it is his personal  problem and threatening to shed blood of other Kenyans in support of Mr Kenyatta is not only irrelevant but stupid.

We cannot afford to forget the over 1000 Kenyans who lost their lives following the 2007/2008 election dispute. Barely 10 days to Kenya’s first general elections under a new constitution, hundreds of Kenyans are still living in IDP camps.

We now have a more organized and independent electoral body. In addition, we have reformed out judiciary; another reason Kenyans should seek the intervention of the courts in case of a disputed vote.

We are smarter now; we now know better. Join our team as we preach messages of peace as we count down to the March 4 vote.

First published in February 2013.