THE allegation that Supreme Court judge Philip Tunoi received a Sh200 million bribe has split the judiciary right down the middle.
According to journalist Geoffrey Kiplagat, Tunoi received the bribe from Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero in 2014 to rule in his favour in an petition against his election by Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu.
This regards the March 4, 2013 governor election won by Kidero, before Waititu challenged the outcome.
Judges who served the judiciary before the promulgation of the new constitution have rallied behind Tunoi, believing the claims are a scheme to remove them from the courts.
Tunoi will this morning face a six-member special committee of the Judicial Service Commission.
The team is chaired by Public Service Commission chairperson Margaret Kobia.
And now the battle is taking shape, with a group of judges, branding themselves ‘progressives’, out to shove ‘conservatives’ off the judiciary.
The ‘conservatives’ include judges who have risen through the ranks and were appointed long before the promulgation in 2010.
The ‘progressives’ include judges who were recruited after the promulgation, two senior counsels and some top officials of the Law Society of Kenya.
This clique is motivated by the desire to dominate and control the judiciary, a High Court judge told the Star on condition of anonymity yesterday.
Throughout last week, LSK chairman Eric Mutua accused the Supreme Court of corruption and called for investigations into allegations against other judges.
“I have looked at the affidavit sworn by the gentleman [Kiplagat] and I think there is some truth in it,” he said.
“In each and every single election petition, including the presidential petition that went to the Supreme Court, people have mentioned informally that judges received bribes.”
The LSK boss said similar allegations of graft were levelled against the Supreme Court in the poll petition of Othaya MP Mary Wambui.
However, the ‘conservatives’ blame the trend on succession politics.
Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said he will retire in June, one year ahead of schedule.
“The progressives are all over the place and have schemed to fashion the judiciary to their own liking,” the source said.
“Actually, this claim about Tunoi and bribery is a scheme to push out the Supreme Court bench at whatever cost.”
In a story that aired on NTV on January 24, Kiplagat said he facilitated a meeting between Kidero and Tunoi.
The JSC committee will investigate the claims and report in seven days.
However, the judges in the so-called conservative group have dismissed the move as baseless.
They said it is “a manifestation of the ugly trajectory the judiciary succession has become”.
The judges said the Supreme Court verdict in the Kidero versus Waititu was unanimous.
It was consistent with a similar petition that the court has rendered its opinion on, they said.
“There is nothing unique here because the Supreme Court had contradicted the Court of Appeal by ruling against it in all the election petitions,” the judge said.
Another judicial officer said although he was not sure whether money exchanged hands, the cash could not have influenced the court’s final decision.
He said that’s because the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court had turf wars during that period.
Most decisions from the Court of Appeal were nullified by the Supreme Court, the officer said.
The judges believe the scheme by the ‘progressives’ couldn’t have come at a better time, due to Mutunga’s looming retirement.