Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has warned the youth to avoid obsessing with age as a major criterion for leadership.
Chief Justice Willy Mutunga
In a series of tweets, which began on the day news broke on the appointment of former Civil Service boss Francis Muthaura and long-serving politician Matu Wamae, the Chief Justice told his online community that integrity should not be sacrificed at the expense of the youth.
“Who wants a leadership of a thieving and corrupt youth? Leadership has other hallmarks other than age!” the Chief Justice tweeted on his verified account @WMutunga.
He added: “The argument that the young have a solution for our ills must interrogate their political and ideological position.”
The tweets rattled the online community as young people fought back, and told the Chief Justice he was trying to “justify old age”.
But he shot back: “Is it possible that your father is a far better leader than you? You could be better than him! That is a simple point I am making.”
Young people
Dr Mutunga, 66, was also misconstrued in some of his tweets to have condemned all young people as corrupt.
“You missed my point. There are young and old thieving corrupt individuals. Age is not the sole criterion for positive change,” he tweeted back to his response.
Fred Ndaga pushed on: “@WMutunga hmmm, so an old thieving individual is better than a young thieving individual? (It’s alright) sir”.
The Chief Justice pointed out that the country’s Constitution was very specific that there shall be no discrimination against old people or even the young people simply based on the number of years they have lived in the world.
“Corruption the world over knows no age! Our Constitution values integrity over age. And that is what we need to focus on going forward,” Mutunga noted. The State shall not discriminate directly or indirectly any person on any ground, including…age …” Article 27(4) of the Constitution, the Chief Justice tweeted.
Mutunga’s remarks hem in with the view of the Deputy President William Ruto, who defended the appointments saying the Government’s policy was not to discriminate against anyone.
By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU, The Standard