A human rights activist yesterday filed a petition before the Judicial Service Commission seeking the removal of Chief Justice Willy Mutunga.
The petition is apparently part of a wider plan by judges, judiciary staff and influential Jubilee politicians to force the CJ out before his term of office is over. Mutunga is due to retire in about two years.
Those plotting against the CJ may believe that they can influence who becomes the next CJ.”We are backing the petitioner on this matter because we believe Mutunga has let us down,” said an appellate judge yesterday.
In the 236 page petition filed with the JSC secretariat yesterday morning, Dr Dan Alila accuses Mutunga of incompetence and breach of Judicial Code of Conduct.
In another symptom of the turmoil in the judiciary, two weeks ago Parliament passed a report recommending the setting up of a tribunal to remove six JSC members. The courts then issued orders barring the MPs from adopting the report and stopping the president from acting on it.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has since called a meeting between the CJ and National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi to resolve the matter.
Yesterday Alila insisted that he filed the petition on his own volition because Mutunga has “clearly and evidently” displayed personal bias and partiality. Alila is the executive director of the Africa Human Rights Bureau.
He said that Mutunga displayed bias by supporting Supreme Court Mohammed Warsame after he was initially dropped by the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board for failing to clear a backlog of cases, some dating back five years.
Dr Alila also accused Dr Mutunga of unfairly and unprocedurally removing the former Chief Registrar of Judiciary Gladys Boss Shollei in October. He says that Shollei was removed without following due process, the constitution, the JSC Act and the judicial code of conduct.
He said the CJ failed to act when Shollei informed him of the meddling of JSC in the financial management of the judiciary, leading to the loss of public funds and the creation of “healthy environment” for corruption.
Alila also accused the CJ of making prejudicial remarks in respect of former Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Baraza.He said the CJ made “unfortunate remarks” during a TV breakfast show when he asked Kenyans to read the tribunal’s ruling and the Mumo Matemu ruling to acquaint themselves on integrity issues, yet Baraza had moved to the Court of Appeal to challenge her removal.Matemu was later cleared by the Court of Appeal and took up his position at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
Alila claimed that Mutunga has failed “irredeemably and displayed ineptitude and ineffectiveness” in the management of the Judiciary.
He argued that Mutunga failed to promote a good working relationship between the Judiciary and other organs of government, especially the National Assembly.
Alila said the CJ has failed to enforce professional ethics in the judiciary personnel including the JSC members. He says he has evidence from newspaper reports, opinion articles of members and officials of the Law Society of Kenya, and investigatory reports by parliamentary oversight committees.
He wants the JSC to set in motion the removal of Justice Mutunga as the head of the Judiciary, President of the Supreme Court, chairman of the JSC, and chairperson of the National Council on Administration of Justice.
“He has shown open bias, interference, partiality and unfairness… contrary to the Judicial code of conduct and Ethics as well as expectation from him,” Alila said.
-the-star
