16 parties join suit on Kibaki nominees

By Judy Ogutu

The court battle over the nomination of four constitutional office holders kicked off Monday with more than 16 interested parties seeking to be enjoined in the case.

The Attorney General (AG) maintained his position over the nominations of the Chief Justice (CJ) and three other constitutional office holders. State counsel, Wanjiku Mbiyu, told Justices Kalpana Rawal, George Dulu and Luka Kimaru that the position of the Government’s legal advisor on the appointments was clear and that they had already made some concessions regarding the same on February 3.

"Our position is very clear. We will be asking the court to interpret some sections of the new and old Constitution," she said.

On February 3, when the matter was being heard by Justice Daniel Musinga, Mbiyu had stated: "The AG concedes that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) was entitled to make a recommendation to the President before he nominated the new CJ, in consultation with the Prime Minister for approval by the National Assembly."

And as to whether provisions of Article 27(3) were violated by virtue of the four nominations being male only, she conceded that indeed there was discrimination against women.

On January 28, President Kibaki nominated Justice Alnashir Visram for the position of the CJ amid a standoff with Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

He also nominated Prof Githu Muigai as AG, Mr Kioko Kilukumi Director of Public Prosecutions and Mr William Kirwa as Controller of Budget. From 10am, the court was teeming with lawyers, journalists, civil society activists and the public. The petition has attracted one of the largest numbers of interested parties. An avalanche of civil society, political parties and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) swarmed the court seeking to be enjoined as interested parties or friends of the court and their applications were allowed.

According to the applicants, the said nominations set a dangerous precedent and "stand out as dangerous rodents eating at the very roots of constitutionalism and the rule of law that ought to be safeguarded by the constitution of Kenya 2010 and all persons responsible for implementation and execution of the constitution."