Another Supreme Court judge, Jackton B Ojwang, survived after the board established his delays were due to ill health. But Justice Ojwang, who also rose to the Supreme Court last year, cleared his backlog. At the time of the appointment he had 145 rulings and judgements pending on his desk in Mombasa. This was attributed to long illness, which forced him to travel to Nairobi regularly for treatment. When he regained his health he cleared the cases and had no outstanding matters when he went before the board.
“The judge came through the board as an intellectual of high calibre, and dedicated to his work as a judge,” the chairman said, declaring him fit to continue serving.
For Nambuye, Friday’s decision means the end of a 32-year career in the Judiciary, since her appointment as a district magistrate in 1980. Nambuye had survived the ‘radical surgery’ of 2003, as well as a grilling by the JSC for the Court of Appeal job last year. But it was not a case of third time lucky for her. She was done in by about 16 complaints of delaying cases for years.
The vetting board attributed the delays to poor time management. Nambuye loses her job just months after the retirement of her husband, Justice Daniel Aganyanya.
The two had been suspended in 2003 over allegations of incompetence and corruption while serving at the High Court. Both were cleared and reinstated, then promoted to the Court of Appeal at different times. Aganyanya, who is physically handicapped, retired in January.
The board is only vetting judges and magistrates who were in office before the promulgation of the Constitution in August 2010.
It has so far interviewed the three elevated to the Supreme Court and seven promoted from High Court to the Court of Appeal. The announcements Friday were delayed by an hour for the board to serve the judges with the determinations before going public.
In April, some of the judges got news of their sacking, as they were presiding over cases in court, leading to protests from the Judiciary.
The board found other appeal judges Kihara Kariuki and Hannah Okwengu suitable to continue serving.
It, however, did not give a determination on the fate of their colleagues Kalpana Rawal, Martha Koome, and David Maraga, who are involved in a case seeking determination of the elections date. Rao said it would not be in public interest to determine their vetting before they had concluded the case.
Another judge, Wanjiru Karanja, was interviewed on Friday and the board had not made a determination on her. The board also interviewed the first sitting High Court judge Jessie Lessit on Monday.
