Shollei set to appeal ruling against her return to work

By Standard Reporter

Former Chief Registrar of Judiciary Gladys Shollei (pictured) will appeal Friday’s ruling by the Industrial Court against her reinstatement.

Through her lawyer Donald Kipkorir, Mrs Shollei said she would appeal the decision by Principal Judge Mathews Nduma against her request to be reinstated on interim basis, saying it will result in a power vacuum at the Judiciary.

Public interest

“It is in public interest that, that office which is critical to the functioning of the Judicial Arm of Government does not remain vacant.  That is where the balance of convenience falls with regard to this matter,” he said in his ruling.

Nonetheless, Shollei said she was happy with the overall decision, saying that the court found that she had a prima facie case against the Judicial Service Commission  that sacked her more than a month ago.

“That we have established a prima facie case with high probability of success as your allegations of existence of a “war council” and of bias by the Judicial Service Commission was not controverted by Judicial Service Commission,” reads a statement released to the media by Mr Kipkorir.

Shollei has sued JSC for unlawful dismissal after the Commission leveled allegations of corruption and misuse of office against her.

However Shollei has maintained her innocence and says the allegations were part of a wider scheme orchestrated by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and other employees in his office to kick her out of the Judiciary.

Shollei has accused Justice Mutunga of coming up with a “war council” made of senior staff in his office and of which he was the head with the express aim of kicking her out of the Judiciary.

Constitutional impasse

This was contained in a trove of emails correspondence published extensively by The Standard between the CJ and four staff in his office strategising on how to execute the plan by October.

As a result of Shollei’s ouster, Parliament voted to request President Kenyatta to form a tribunal to probe six JSC commissioners whom Shollei said were behind her woes.

The move created a constitutional impasse after Parliament disregarded a High Court order not to proceed with debate on the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on legal affairs.

Beleaguered Judiciary

As a result of the crisis, a private citizen has moved to court seeking the removal of Mutunga as the head of Judiciary saying he was too compromised and unable to discharge his duties impartially.

Dr Dan Alila of the African Human Rights Bureau served the JSC on Thursday, 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.

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