Interview answers that earned the Court of Appeal Judge a top job at the Judiciary

Justice David Maraga during one of the vetting sessions. (Edward Kiplimo/Standard)

On Wednesday, August 31 Justice David Maraga was escorted to the interview room to face an panel of the Judicial Service Commissioners and proof that he had what it takes to become Kenya’s Chief Justice.

The following are the highlights of the interview that earned him the job.

What he intends to do as CJ: Justice Maraga told the panel that he had years of experience as judge who had served in several stations; and that he was was an independent judge who could not be influenced by outside forces.

His vision for the judiciary

“My vision if appointed CJ will be to restore public confidence in the Judiciary. I will achieve this by reducing the case backlog and introducing a hot-line for people to report corruption within the Judiciary.”

Supreme Court unity

Justice Maraga said he was dissatisfied with the way the Supreme Court has been handling election petitions.

“I know there are challenges and disunity in the Supreme Court but I want to be remembered as the leader who brought unity in that court. I will sit with the judges to identify what went wrong so that we can do it right,” he said.

Defiance of court orders, especially by Parliament and the Executive: The judge admitted that the problem might sometimes stem from the judicial officers issuing decisions, and that he would engage with the different arms of Government to explain the need to obey the orders.

Minority rights

“We will go by what the law says. If the action they claim to be their right has been outlawed, then we will not allow it. Issuing any orders as their right to do what they want would be an illegal order,” he said.

Election petitions

“There is a need to amend the constitution to bring matters of elections petitions to a finality as soon as possible. In fact my understanding of the Constitution is that this are matters which should be finalised within a year so that the country moves on.”

Role of JSC in administration:”In administrative matters, you don’t have to rush to court. There could be an issue why a matter has not been dealt with.”