Go easy on row, MP tells leaders

By JAMES OMORO

Senators and MPs have been urged to tone down on rhetoric to allow the courts to decide the fate of six Judicial Service Commission (JSC) officials suspended by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Nyatike MP Omondi Anyanga said the matter should not be used as a fresh launching pad for political fireworks between the ruling Jubilee and opposition CORD coalitions.

Anyanga said the matter was already before the courts and the war of words between the coalitions would only aggravate the problem and cause further confusion.

The MP said now that the suspended JSC members have moved to court to block the Justice (rtd) Aaron Ringera-led tribunal from investigating them, the law should be allowed to fully take its course.

“Politics need not to take centre stage on this matter. Should JSC successfully challenge Uhuru’s decision, let’s live by it. Should it throw out the JSC prayers and allow the Ringera tribunal to probe the six, let’s support that,” Anyanga told The Standard.

On Tuesday, 10 Jubilee senators defended Uhuru’s move days after CORD leader Raila Odinga accused the President of seeking to wreck the Judiciary.

The President suspended commissioners Ahmednassir Abdullahi, Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, Justice Mohammed Warsame, Christine Mango, Chief Magistrate Emily Ominde and Florence Mwangangi.

At the same time, Anyanga said a possible indictment of JSC should provide grounds for further probes into the Judiciary and other institutions linked to it and the validity of decisions they have made in the recent past.

He singled out recent decisions by the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board against serving judicial officers, saying they may not have been fair.