CJ Willy Mutunga threatens to unmask those behind petition on ouster

The dispute between Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), Mombasa chapter, escalated after he threatened to expose officials behind a petition to oust him.

The local branch of LSK has spearheaded a signature campaign to oust the CJ through a petition to the National Assembly.

But on Tuesday, the CJ took on Erick Nyongesa, chairman of LSK Mombasa branch, when responding to questions from the public at Aga Khan Academy over the delays in provision of justice at the coast.

The law society claimed to have already collected 780 signatures from lawyers and the public to support the petition.

“I guess you may have signed the petition to remove me from office. But we have the data and fact and I will defend myself accordingly once the petition comes up there (Parliament),” Mutunga told those who had raised the issues.

“The problem I have with Mombasa lawyers’ leadership is that they say Mombasa has been marginalised. I decided not to respond to these lies and debate with Nyongesa because if I did, I would have started to say the truth about him,” added Mutunga.

It was the first time the CJ was defending himself against claims by LSK, Mombasa chapter, which accuses him of marginalising the Coast region in the appointment of judges and magistrates.

But in a quick rejoinder, the LSK Mombasa chapter accused the CJ of running scared and turning a professional matter into a personal feud.

Speaking to The Standard on phone yesterday, Nyongesa said the protest is over what he termed as “skewed appointment and deployment” of the judicial staff in favour of Nairobi.

Defended policies

The CJ defended the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) transfer policies and judicial transformation plan saying when he was appointed, there were only 15 Kadhis and the number has now risen to 35, most of them based in Mombasa.

He said that the country had only 17 judges in the Land and Environment division and two of them are situated in Mombasa, three in Nairobi and the rest distributed to the other 45 counties.

In January 2013, LSK Mombasa chapter wrote to JSC over the shortage of judicial staff and its chairman Nyongesa says that Mutunga had not replied to their letters.

In June this year, JSC said they had appointed nine new magistrates and a deputy registrar at the Coast following the lawyers’ sustained protests over the shortage of judicial staff in the region.

On June 30, lawyers gave Mutunga a 14-day notice to post judicial officers to the region failure to which they would collect signatures to petition Parliament to remove him.

High Court judges (from left) Maureen Onyango, Linnet Ndolo, Lucy Gacheru and Asenath Ongeri during a lunch break at Sarova Whitesands Hotel in Mombasa yesterday at their annual conference.

(PHOTO: MAARUFU MOHAMED)

Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi admitted that the training schedules for the staff may have disrupted the courts activities, but refuted claims by LSK that Mombasa had been marginalised.

“It is incorrect to allege discrimination when one considers that the station (Mombasa) has five judges with a caseload of 10,423 matters, while the Milimani High Court Civil Division alone has five judges dealing with a caseload of 32,000 matters,” said Ms Amadi in a statement.