Kenya parliament won't obey "idiotic" court orders

NAIROBI

Kenya's parliament and judiciary are locked in a heated supremacy conflict.

"We respect court orders and we have obeyed many of them," National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi told journalists at parliament building in the capital Nairobi on Tuesday.

"But I cannot understand why we should obey every order, however idiotic or unconstitutional," he said. "If we go that route, we shall head in the wrong direction."

Muturi, himself a former magistrate, defended lawmakers currently locked in a supremacy conflict with the judiciary.

"The Judiciary is derived from the people and does not represent the will of the people. Judiciary does not exercise sovereignty but Parliament does," insisted the top lawmaker.

He went as far as accusing Kenyan magistrates and judges of issuing "idiotic" orders to the legislators.

"We should expect some idiotic judicial orders saying Parliament should not sit to deliberate the budget until another judge issues another equally idiotic order saying parliament should not sit for three months," said Muturi.

The remarks came a few days after Kenyan Chief Judge Willy Mutunga decried what he described as rising threat to and intimidation of the independence of the Judiciary by the East African nation's politicians.

"The Judiciary will not be cowed. We shall continue to exercise our power without hindrance," he said without naming any politician or party.

-'Lynch Mobs'-

The March 4th Movement, a lobby group fighting to defend Kenya's constitution and the rights and fundamental freedoms of people, rushed to the judiciary's defense.

"We members of March 4th Movement stand by the judges against the lynch mobs in Parliament and the Executive," the group leader Okiah Omtatah said in a strongly-worded statement on Tuesday.

"We demand an immediate cessation of the ongoing attacks on judges," he added.

Omtatah threatened "drastic action" within a week against the speakers of the National Assembly and Senate for defying court orders served on them.

He did not disclose the precise action that his movement plans to take.

"By the law, we will defend our rights and fundamental freedoms, which are protected, and can only be protected by an independent judiciary."

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