Chief Justice David Maraga vows to do away with the ‘rotten eggs’

Chief Justice David Maraga (C), High Court Judge Richard Mwongo (R) and retiring judge Mathew Emuhule have a word during the Judges of the High Court workshop held at Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha. He said that he was keen to tackle corruption which has tainted image of the judiciary. [Photo:Antony Gitonga/Standard]

Chief Justice David Maraga has admitted that some Judiciary staff are corrupt.

He said 10 per cent of the staff in the Judiciary, including judges and clerks, were involved in graft, tainting the name of the institution.

“We have been accused of abetting corruption and as per my statistics, around 10 per cent of our staff are involved in this vice,” he said yesterday.

The new CJ was addressing judges of the High Court at the end of a four-day workshop at Great Rift Valley Lodge in Naivasha. This was his first public function since he was sworn in on Wednesday.

Magara said they would strengthen the office of the Ombusman to investigate corruption cases.

“The office will investigate the cases then hand them to the JSC (Judicial Service Commission) and we shall take decisive actions against any judge found guilty,” he said.

He added that accused judges would be given ample opportunity to defend themselves. He urged the judges to partner with him in fighting graft.

Maraga told the judges that the President and Deputy President had raised concerns over statutory orders issued by some of them.

He said some of the orders affected development projects and funding. The CJ asked the judges to bear in mind the consequences of their orders.

“The President and his deputy have a point on these orders and they have challenged us to be fast in issuing judgements as we do to injunctions,” Maraga said.

He added that during his vetting, MPs had also accused the Judiciary of interfering with their duties.

“But I reminded them that the court has no jurisdiction,” he said.

On backlog of cases, the CJ said over 600,000 cases are pending in various courts across the country, some dating back to over 10 years.

He said he had set up an advisory committee to address the cases, adding they would start with cases that are over five years old.

“We plan to address and resolve these cases by one year and I appeal to you, judges, to be firm and make sure that we deal with the backlog,” he said. He added that that there was a major public outcry over the backlog.

“You are the face of Judiciary and I urge you to dispense with these cases as some are holding back businesses and affecting investments,” he said.