Chief Justice Willy Mutunga pleads with judges to end rivarly

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga.

Nairobi, Kenya: Sour relations among senior judicial officers was Monday the subject of discussion at a judges’ meeting held in Nairobi.

Claims of judicial rivalry between Supreme Court judges and those of the Court of Appeal, particularly in the determination of election petitions filed last year, have recently been raised.

And Monday, Chief Justice Dr Willy Mutunga did not hide that fact when he addressed judges during the opening of the annual colloquium at a Nairobi hotel.

“The use of language that is not temperate has been brought to my attention as one of the reasons the various courts are sometimes seen as being at war with each other. Civility is the conscious effort to respect other people’s opinions even when you sharply disagree with them, and to be able to express your disagreement without rancour,” Mutunga said, while pleading with the judges to exercise civility.

Supreme Court judges have been accused of being too keen to overturn decisions of the Court of Appeal in virtually all the election petitions that have reached the top court since March last year.

Exercise respect

The Supreme Court is said to occasionally use strong language when dismissing the reasoning of the Court of Appeal and siding with the High Court.

Election petitions are heard by a single judge at the High Court, then three judges at the Court of Appeal and mostly all the seven judges at the Supreme Court.

Mutunga urged the judges to exercise respect for each other in the course of their work.

“We must be collegial. Collegiality is the ability and willingness to respectfully engage with one’s colleagues and to rationally and genuinely attempt to find a common direction that will enhance public trust and legitimacy for the court and the Judiciary,” he told the colloquium, adding: “Collegiality is also about how you treat the opinions of other judicial officers in your judgements, whether you are reviewing them or using them as precedents. We must be collegial when we overturn the decisions of courts below us; just as we must allow the courts below to correct us.”

He said judges should never personalise criticism, but the language used must be temperate and persuasive.

“I have read some judgements in which the critique bordered on invective and ridicule,” he said.

The CJ said the Judiciary was still grappling with a backlog of cases. “We are still in the grip of a huge case backlog, with some of the matters having been filed 24 years ago,” he said.

The meeting is held annually to discuss issues affecting the judges.