Lobby wants CJ axed from Judiciary

By KURIAN MUSA

A lobby group wants Chief Justice Willy Mutunga removed from heading the Judiciary.

Dr Dan Alila of African Human Rights Bureau served a petition to Judicial Service Commission (JSC) yesterday demanding that they exclude Mutunga from the Judiciary.

The petition seeks the removal of the Chief Justice in interest of proper administration of justice and judicial accountability. The petition piles pressure on a beleaguered Judiciary.

Parliament recently approved another petition against six JSC commissioners and the resolution requires President Uhuru Kenyatta to establish a tribunal to determine their suitability to hold office.

Another petition was filed with the JSC seeking the removal of High Court Judge Joel Ngugi, who was named as a member of self-styled war council purportedly established to engineer removal of former registrar Gladys Shollei from office.

Lawyer Edwin Sifuna’s petition seeks to have Justice Ngugi, who heads the Judiciary Transformation Secretariat, removed allegedly for breaching the constitution.

In yesterday’s 236 pages document, the petitioner wants the CJ removed on the grounds of incompetence and breach of judicial code of conduct and ethics while executing his official duties as head of the Judiciary, President of the Supreme Court, chairman of the JSC and the chairperson of the National Council on Administration of Justice.

The petitioner says that Mutunga breached the code of conduct by displaying personal bias and partiality in support of Justice Mohamed Warsame in a manner as seen as influencing the outcome of the vetting board’s decision. Dr Alila said Mutunga constituted a Bench comprising of Justice Warsame to hear Eldoret High Court Constitutional petition Number 11 of 2012 and to issue an injunction on the judges and magistrates vetting board knowing that Warsame had been summoned to appear before the board. 

“It raises issues of his suitability to work as judge as spelt in the Constitution, when Warsame remained in the Bench before being vetted,” said Alila at the JSC offices in Mayfair Centre in Upper Hill, Nairobi.

Conduct and ethics

Mutunga is also said to have displayed bias and partiality in support of Justice Mohamed Ibrahim by retaining him in the Judiciary despite the vetting boards’ rulings on the judge’s unsuitability to serve.

The vetting board had ruled on July 20, 2012 that Justice Ibrahim is unfit to serve at the Judiciary due to the backlog of cases before him.

The petitioner averred that the CJ contravened Part III of the Public Officers’ Ethics Act, the Judicial Service Act and code of conduct.

He also petitioned that the Chief Justice led the JSC into unfairly and unduly dismissing Ms Shollei without due regard to Section 12(2) of the code of conduct and ethics.

The petitioner further states that the Chief Justice failed to prudently offer oversight roles in the management of the Judiciary funds as envisages in the Public Finance management Act