‘Fix the law, fix the country’: Ex-CJ David Maraga on how he would run Kenya as president

Former Chief Justice David Maraga says that if he were to be elected President of Kenya, he would strive to ensure Kenyans are law-abiding citizens.

Maraga, in an address at the People’s Dialogue Festival at Uhuru Park on Thursday, tore into Kenya's governance challenges, pinpointing that adherence to the rule of law is the ultimate solution to the country’s problems.

The former CJ, who has touted as a possible President William Ruto successor over his stand on issues affecting Kenyans, argued that most African nations are hell-bent on breaking the law, hence the perennial economic and leadership challenges bedeviling the continent.

According to Maraga, defiance to the law is the root cause of corruption, which he believes is the biggest challenge in Africa, and whose solution can only be solved through ensuring every citizen upholds the rule of Constitution.

“If I were to be given the privilege to govern this country, I would get everybody to obey the law; the moment you are obeying the law, everything will fall into place,” he said.

“When you get everybody to obey the law, the question of money not going through the Consolidated Fund will end. The issue of diverting funds from a given project to another will end, and the country will run smoothly.”

He added: “The truth of the matter is that what is ailing this country and very many African countries is corruption; the moment we will deal with corruption, we will have no problem.”

Maraga faulted the current leadership for running opaque projects using public funds without prioritising the need for accountability.

He underscored that a transparent government should not strain to acquire resources or seem as if they are overtaxing the people; rather, the people themselves would be more collaborative since they can monitor how their funds are spent.

“You are given resources to use for the welfare of the people, and you take it all for yourself and begin speaking a language, thinking that some of us didn’t go to school and we can’t even understand the English they’re using,” he said.

“We don’t have infinite resources; the resources are there, they are limited but if a government is transparent and says, look, I have Ksh.10 million, I have used this here and that there, give me more, you will give the government more money when you are transparent and use the resources given to you for the intended purposes.”