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Martha Koome presides over inaugural Supreme Court sitting as Chief Justice

Tuesday, July 6th, 2021 11:05 | By
Justice-Martha-Koome
Chief Justice Martha Koome. Photo/PD/File

All eyes on the Supreme Court this morning as Chief Justice Martha Koome is set to preside over her inaugural sitting as President of the Highest Court of Kenya.

Koome is on Tuesday expected to preside over four matters listed for directions at the supreme court.

This is after the Supreme Court became fully constituted following her appointment and that of Justice William Ouko.

In the virtual session, the seven-judge bench led comprising of Koome, Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu, Justices Mohamed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Susanna Ndung'u, Isaac Lenaola and Ouko are expected to handle cases among them the well-known Muruatetu case, which featured prominently during interviews for the position of Chief Justice in March this year.

Other cases the bench is expected to handle are the cases where Kericho county assembly and a member of the county assembly of Kiambu township are seeking an advisory opinion and the petition by Ferdinard Waititu over his impeachment.

The court is set to hear 20 cases, 19 appeals and two references, between July and October 2021.

CJ Koome, who assumed office a month ago, is Kenya’s third Chief Justice since the promulgation of the Kenya Constitution in 2010.

She joined the High Court in 2003 following several successful decades in legal practice and civil society work before she was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2011.

Koome is Kenya’s first female Chief Justice and one among only five in Africa. She assumes the tripartite Constitutional role of Chief Justice, Chairperson of the Judicial Service Commission and President of the Supreme Court.

She also holds numerous statutory responsibilities including Chairing the National Council of Administrative Justice and the Kenya National Council for Law Reporting.

CJ Koome’s assumption of office signals a positive drift for the Judiciary which has struggled to finance its operations owing to inadequate resourcing.

CJ Koome, a natural diplomat with calm charm and sharp intellect hopes to actualize the delicate collaborative government approach guided by the founding clauses of the Constitution.

Her priorities during the first 100 days in office include restructuring caseload status tracking and actualizing the Judiciary Fund which will infuse predictive resourcing and planning.

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