Appoint six judges then file complaint at JSC, Uhuru told
Eric Wainaina @EWainaina
Former Chief Justice David Maraga has urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to respect the law, appoint the six judges he rejected over alleged integrity issues then launch a complaint at the Judicial Service Commission to have them removed from office.
He said the law does not “donate any powers” to the President to question the decision of the JSC on hiring of the judicial staff and thus he should do the right thing by appointing all the judges presented to him by the JSC.
“He should appoint the six and then seek their removal by lodging a complaint against them with JSC,” the former CJ said, faulting the President’s refusal to appoint six of the 41 judges as recommended by the commission.
Maraga said the list, which JSC submitted to the President, was interfered with and some judges who had been fingered by the National Intelligence Service inexplicable cleared.
“The names have changed. Some have also been added to that list and others removed but for the good of the persons concerned, I will not mention them but that is what has happened,” he said, linking the alleged tampering with the recent ruling against the Building Bridges Initiative process.
Coming just a day after his predecessor Willy Mutunga penned a hard-hitting open letter to the President accusing him of “intentional, persistent, defiant and braze” disregard of the rule law, Maraga accused the Head of State of “gross violation of the Constitution”.
On Tuesday, Mutunga said Uhuru’s refusal to promote the six was driven by personal resentment and not principle.
“Strikingly, the presidential ‘list of hate’ has even mysteriously changed, meaning the objection to the judges is driven more by personal pique rather than principle. That is not the way to conduct the serious business of the state,” he said.
And Maraga, in a TV interview yesterday warned that such impunity could plunge the country in an anarchy.
He argued that the President’s move to “handpick” the judges was against the law, because his role, according to the Constitution, is ceremonial.
Land matter
“If there is no presidential petition and the swearing in ceremony for the handing over of the President has been organised and the Chief Justice refuses to come and swear in the President, I can assure you, the whole nation would roll, they would come and say remove this person, he even does not know what he is doing,” Maraga said. “That is what is supposed to happen to the President.
It is the duty of Parliament, when the President has violated the Constitution to take steps and remove him.
That is the only way you can have order. If this kind of act is allowed to continue, we are descending into a banana republic very easily.”
Last Thursday Uhuru sparked outrage when he appointed 34 judges and rejected six out of the 41 proposed by JSC.
Those left out are Court of Appeal nominees Justices George Odunga, Joel Ngugi, Weldon Korir and Aggrey Muchelule as well as Evans Makori and Judith Cheruiyot, who had been nominated to the High Court.
According to Maraga, there is clear separation of powers between the three arms of government, and none should purport to perform the roles of the other.
