William Ruto roots for removal of presidential immunity

Deputy President William Ruto has advocated the removal of the presidential immunity clause in the Constitution that protects a sitting Head of State from civil and criminal proceedings as a way of fighting corruption.

Speaking during an interview with South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Dr Ruto said his Kenya Kwanza Alliance is focused on building strong institutions to ensure that even those holding high positions in government are charged when they engage in corruption.

“We must build institutions that have the capacity to investigate corruption, theft of public resources, state capture and conflict of interest from any state official. There are countries that take their presidents to court because of corruption and we must take our country to that level,” Dr Ruto added.

Corruption

He has also promised to ensure that his administration will make sure everyone implicated in corruption faces criminal proceedings, including those in the Office of the President.

“There is no reason why the budget for the investigating authorities is in the Office of the President because it limits their capacity on whom to investigate. They have to look at who is related to who and how. We want them to have financial independence so that they can investigate everybody, including any official, irrespective of who you are related to or irrespective of what office you hold, including the President himself,” Dr Ruto said.

He further said the Raila Odinga-led Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition has no proper plan to fight corruption.

“We cannot go by the plan of our competitors who have a president somewhere directing who is to be jailed, which means the president is above the law, and who is above investigations, which also means they are personalising the fight,” he added.

State capture

DP Ruto’s utterances come after his running mate, Mr Rigathi Gachagua, during the deputy presidential candidates’ debate, remained tight-lipped on whether, if their coalition won, they would prosecute President Uhuru Kenyatta over state capture.

During the debate on Tuesday, Mr Gachagua said a commission would be put in place to investigate violations such as state capture and corruption in government.

When queried whether the commission will go after the first family, Mr Gachagua said they will only deal with individuals.

“We will not go after anybody, we will go after those involved in state capture and conflict of interest. That will come out in the commission. It is the real corruption that we need to deal with,” he said.

Article 143 of the Constitution protects the President or any other person performing the functions of that office from criminal proceedings in any court during their tenure in office.

In 2014, President Uhuru Kenyatta became the first Head of State to appear before the International Criminal Court over his alleged role in the 2007-2008 post-election violence.

At the time, he temporarily delegated his duties to his deputy.

The case however ended in 2015 due to lack of evidence and witness tampering.