MARTHA KOOME’s Judiciary given 21 days to come clean on Judges after several complaints

Wednesday, December 25, 2024 - The Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ) has slapped the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) with a 21-day ultimatum to publish all complaints lodged against judges and their outcomes on their public website and other platforms.

In the notice, CAJ also ordered the Judiciary to provide an analysis of the issues reported and their determination by submitting a compliance report.

According to the notice, this order was prompted by a recent interview of Jacqueline Ingutiah, the Female Representative of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) on Spice FM which raised alarm on the flurry of complaints against judges that go unpunished.

During the interview, a damning revelation was made that since the establishment of the JSC in 2011, a total of 935 cases against judges had been lodged.

Of the 935 cases, 862 had been finalised, leaving a backlog of only 73 cases.

However, a total of 772 complaints had been dismissed based on decisional independence. This translates to 82.5 per cent of all claims lodged.

Due to the JSC’s role in overseeing all complaints, the CAJ emphasised that adequate public disclosure regarding the outcomes of these complaints was crucial.

The commission also referenced Article 35 of the Constitution, which grants all citizens the right to access information, and further outlined the information the JSC is required to provide to citizens within the next 21 days.

Through Chief Justice Martha Koome, the CAJ urged the Judiciary to regularly publish detailed information, including the number of complaints or petitions lodged against judges.

They are also required to outline the nature of the complaints, the timelines of the proceedings, the analysis based on hierarchy, division, and geographical location, and all determinations made to date.

This order comes at a time when a section of senior counsels in the country, including former LSK President Nelson Havi, is calling for the resignation of CJ Koome citing corruption in the Supreme Court of Kenya.

The Kenyan DAILY POST