By Wahome Thuku
The Judiciary has started recruiting 15 new Court of Appeal judges amid controversy over the announcement of the fate of three others vetted recently.
Some of the 15 judges, who will be recruited from end of August, will fill four vacancies left behind by those found unfit to continue serving.
On Saturday, the Judiciary denied claims its withholding of vetting results for three Court of Appeal judges Kalpana Rawal, Martha Koome and David Maraga had made them boycott their duties.
Rawal and Judiciary Communications Director, Naim Bilal, made separate statements, maintaining the concerned judges were working as they await the verdict of the Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board on their suitability to continue serving.
The board has since sent home Supreme Court judge Mohammed Ibrahim and five of his Court of Appeal counterparts.
Five-judge bench
But the board withheld the determination for Rawal, Maraga and Koome because they are part of a five-judge bench set to deliver a ruling on the date for the General Election. Board chairman Sharad Rao said they had considered it not to be in public interest to announce the determination before they had delivered the ruling set for July 31.
The board did not also announce its final decision on another Court of Appeal Judge Wanjiru Karanja, who had been vetted only two days earlier. It, however, cleared their colleague Lady Justice Hannah Okwengu who is also a member of the bench.
The judges are said to have interpreted the deferment as interference with their work, with some media reports indicating they had put on hold the delivery of the ruling on election date until they know their fate.
The saga prompted Chief Justice Willy Mutunga to write to the board on Monday asking them to expedite the announcement of their determination.
Judge Rawal, who declined to be filmed by television camera crews, said on Saturday the five-judge bench is working overtime to beat the deadline for the delivery of the ruling.
“I have nothing against the board because this is their process. I have not stopped my work. We are all working because as judges, we are supposed to be above all these issues,” she told journalists in her chambers.
The fate of those sacked in April appears sealed as their application for a review of the decision were rejected. Nambuye and Ibrahim, however, have an opportunity to apply for a review.
