Shollei Judiciary saga is not about to end anytime soon

By Faith Ronoh

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The recent unfolding of events within the Judiciary has raised worries and indeed doubts concerning the credibility of an institution that had swiftly regained public confidence after several years of mistrust.

Most prominent is the recent sacking of former Chief Registrar Mrs Gladys Boss Shollei. The act has been termed by many as a succession battle or worse still a plot to eliminate her owing to her steady fight to raise the red flag about questionable procurement.

The woes within the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) have taken a different twist with MPs maintaining that only the law can limit the institution’s oversight role. Last week I had this conversation with a lawyer who apparently maintained that Mrs Shollei could have practically been eliminated by anti-reformers. Well, it is known that in Kenya, anyone who steps up to openly fight corruption must face hard-hitting consequences.

Whichever way, this is not just about the opinions of others. I took time to read through JSC allegations against Mrs Shollei, her responses, and overall JSC findings and observations on the whole issue. Worth noting is the unanimous decision to remove the CRJ from office on the basis of incompetence, misbehaviour, violation of the prescribed code of conduct for judicial officers, insubordination and violation of the prescribed code of conduct for judicial officers.

Mrs Shollei defended herself against the allegations and before she was done, she had been fired already. The media had landed on e-mail correspondence between the Chief Justice and a section of Judiciary staff and most surprising was a 31-point plan by a group of staff to fight Shollei.

Unexpectedly, no one considered this as an initial plot to kick out the Chief Registrar and to date no one bothers to follow up with the contents of the e-mail. I have not heard anyone talk about the e-mails except JSC chair Willy Mutunga who at some point accused Shollei of hacking into his e-mail account.

In September, the JSC failed to honour summons by the National Assembly’s committee of Justice and Legal Affairs to respond to allegations that they had breached the law in the disciplinary procedure regarding Ms Shollei.

JSC argued that, just like the Judiciary, it was an independent commission but the truth is that it does not exercise judicial authority like courts and tribunals do.

The Constitution clearly stipulates that JSC commissioners, with the exception of the CJ and the AG, have a limited time within which they can retain their position as commissioners. This precipitated a turf war between the Judiciary (JSC) and Parliament culminating in the vote by MPs to have a tribunal set up to investigate the conduct of six JSC members.

The Constitution grants Parliament powers to summon any person for purposes of either providing evidence or giving information concerning any issue of public interest. This means that the JSC failed to honour the Constitution since its independence was not under threat which begs the question, were the commissioners rude, or were they unprepared to provide answers to their allegations?

The JSC could not categorically point out clear cases of theft or substantiate that the actual aspect of fraud was undertaken by the former CRJ. Picture this, JSC accused the CRJ of making security deposits equivalent to six months’ rent, service charge and parking fees amounting to Sh48.7 million. Mrs Shollei admitted she made payments but in actual sense she did not pocket the cash.

In a similar scenario the CRJ is said to have made payments from Milimani deposits accounts for purposes of recurrent expenditure. In this case, JSC did not prove that she transferred the funds to her own account to amount to corruption or fraud.

JSC further accused her of purchasing used furniture and fittings without the approval of the commission but she was in a position to argue that JSC and the Judiciary are two different entities. Well, this allegation does not portray her as having used the amount stated for personal gain.

Alleged failure to develop a human resource workplan, authorising foreign travel of staff, payment of allowances to staff and other petty allegations were under her jurisdiction as accounting officer.

Salary advances also came out as a controversial allegation that saw her disclose that almost all other JSC employees took salary advances. Kenya has been listed among the most corrupt countries but nothing seems to be done about it. Instead, those who try to crack the whip are eliminated one way or another. Is Mrs Shollei just a victim? Food for thought.