By Isaiah Lucheli
High Court Judge Martha Koome became the first judge to be publicly vetted giving room for Kenyans to closely scrutinise allegations of incompetence leveled against her.
The judge represented by lawyer George Oraro had been accused by businessmen SK Macharia of allegedly ignoring some factors when she made a bankruptcy ruling against him.
The nine Court of Appeal judges who underwent vetting opted for private sessions and the public only came to know of the accusations leveled against them and their fate during the release of the boardâs findings last week.
Judge Martha Koome during the vetting in Nairobi, on Wednesday. Lawyer George Oraro was present. [Photo: Tabitha Otwori/Standard]
Despite the high number of complaints from the public, senior public figures and advocates, Koome went ahead to request for the open forum.
The Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board had a difficult time working on logistics to facilitate the public vetting, which included hiring of seats and airtime to ensure live streaming of the process.
The exercise, which was expected to begin at 9am, was delayed for more than two hours.
The public began flocking the boardâs offices as early as 8.30am and security personnel had a difficult time controlling the crowd and some were directed to watch the live streaming outside due to lack of space in the boardroom.
Macharia complained over a decree that had been issued over a piece of land that he had sold and his bankruptcy suit. He claimed the decree was fraudulently obtained.
Denied him statements
