Political pressure fails to sway judges as they elect Warsame

Judges of the Court of Appeal on Friday weathered external political influence to re-elect Justice Mohamed Warsame to the Judicial Service Commission.

Justice Warsame garnered 16 votes against four for Justice Wanjiru Karanja, who was also hoping to sit in the influential commission that recruits judges and magistrates.

It was the same in the race to take over from outgoing Court of Appeal president Kihara Kariuki.

Justice William Ouko will now be the president of the court after winning the confidence of 16 of his colleagues.

VETTING

The elections for the two positions attracted political interest, with the Jubilee Party said to have been interested in using the polls to take control of the JSC, which also recruits the chief justice and the deputy chief justice.

So keen was Jubilee on the positions that it is understood State House has delayed forwarding to Parliament for vetting Justice Kariuki’s name for almost a month since President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated him as the Attorney-General.

A Judiciary source termed the outcome of the elections “a good result that re-affirms the independence of the court".

A PROBLEM

“The judges expressed their independence and did not allow themselves to be influenced,” the source added.
Stacking their numbers in the JSC has emerged as Jubilee’s key priority as it makes its threat to “revisit” the nullification of President Kenyatta’s August 8, 2017 re-election a reality.

Mr Kenyatta had vowed to “fix” the Judiciary after the nullification of the election, adding: “We clearly have a problem.”

The US Government has rebuked attempts to limit the democratic space in Kenya.

CONCERNS

During a press conference in Nairobi with Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Monica Juma on Friday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Tump administration “shared our concerns during the meeting with the President about the importance of democratic institutions”.

“We believe there are actions that need to be taken in Kenya and they need to correct their actions…like threatening the independence of the courts,” Mr Tillerson said.

In the re-organisation of the government, President Kenyatta also nominated former Kenyatta University Vice-Chancellor Olive Mugenda, former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei and a commissioner with Public Service Commission Patrick Gichohi, who previously was a clerk of the National Assembly, to the JSC as the ruling party sought to expand its control of the commission.

ON HOLD

However, the nomination of the three has been put on hold by the High Court after a lobby - Katiba Institute - moved to court last week to invalidate their vetting and approval.

The group said the positions were not advertised.

The JSC is made up of Chief Justice David Maraga as the chairperson, Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu representing Supreme Court judges, Justices Warsame and Aggrey Muchelule representing Court of Appeal and High Court respectively, while Prof Tom Ojienda and Mercy Deche represent the Law Society of Kenya.

With Mr Maraga reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 2021, controlling the commission is of utmost importance to leading politicians since they can then exert their influence in the process.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this story erroneously named Justice Martha Koome as one of the contestants for the position of presidency of the Court of Appeal.

It has since been brought to our attention that Justice Koome was not a contestant and therefore could not have lost in an election she was not a candidate.

We apologise for any inconvenience and embarrassment this may have caused Justice Koome.