For the past few days, President William Ruto’s infamous ‘Mamvo ni Matatu’ has been going round the internet. The president issued the sensational phrase during his official tour the Western region last week.
In what appeared to be a tough warning to the tycoon frustrating government’s effort to resurrect the sugar Industry, the president gave three options; to flee the country, to to jail or fly to heaven.
“Mambo ni matatu. Utoke Kenya, uende jela ama uende binguni,” the president remarked.
President William Ruto sued over ‘Mambo ni Matatu’ Remarks.
One week after making the remarks, President William Ruto has been sued through the Attorney General’s Office. Operation Linda Jamii on Tuesday filed a petition at the Milimani-based High Court seeking orders to have Ruto withdraw and formally apologise for the utterances.
According to the court documents, the lobby group maintained that the president’s utterances were cold-hearted death threats yet he is supposed to a symbol of national unity.
“The President’s comments if not retracted and an official unconditional apology proffered, will create a perception in Kenya that undermines judicial independence and will also see the rule of law disrespected without a recourse,” the group argued.
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The group acknowledged that issues undermining the progress of Sugar industry needed immediate attention. It however maintained that the direction the head of state took was a dangerous and populist way of addressing the concern. According to them, the ‘Mambo ni Matatu’ not only undermined the rule of law, but also amounted to death threat.
The lobby group further petitioned that the remarks undermines separation of powers doctrine and the checks and balances systems, which is a provision of the Constitution.
While responding to why they opted to take to court the Attorney Genera instead of president Ruto, they argued that, “The attorney general is the principal legal advisor to the National Government. He represents the government in court or in any other legal proceedings to which the National Government is a party to.”
