FORMER Law Society of Kenya chief executive officer Apollo Mboya has laid bare his case against Supreme Court Judge Njoki Ndung'u and accused her of acting with impunity.
In a petition to the Judicial Service Commission to be filed this morning, Mboya asked the team headed by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga to initiate the process of kicking out Ndung’u from the highest court in the land.
According to the former LSK boss, only a Bench of five judges constitutes a quorum at the Supreme Court. He accused Ndung’u of placing her personal interest before public duty.
“Honourable Justice Njoki Ndung’u with impunity ingressed the Supreme Court Registry, grabbed a court file and purported to constitute her single Supreme Court Bench to hear the matter ex-parte and grant orders,” Mboya said in a petition seen by the Star.
On Friday, Ndung’u issued a prohibitory injunction on a Court of Appeal decision sending Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and Justice Philip Tunoi into retirement.
Legal experts have said the decision has plunged the Judiciary into a succession crisis and linked Ndung’u’s move to the intense power play surrounding Mutunga’s exit.
In his petition, Mboya argued that only the CJ is responsible for allocation of cases and constituting the panel and, in his absence, the senior-most judge.
“The senior-most judge, which in this instance ought to have been Honourable Justice
Mohammed Ibrahim, was available, yet Honourable Justice Njoki Ndung’u with impunity allocated herself the file,” he protested.
According to the former LSK boss, Ndung’u stayed the decision just 30 minutes after the Court of Appeal issued their landmark ruling.
He protested that other parties affected by the order, including the JSC, were not accorded a hearing, despite being ready and willing to send representation.
He also took issue with the length of the conservatory orders, terming it unreasonably long and an abuse of the judicial authority.
The conservatory orders were issued until June 24 – eight days after Mutunga’s scheduled exit.
“The said action is aimed at paralyzing judicial service in the Supreme Court of Kenya through lack of quorum to determine the matter,” he stated.
This is now the second time Mboya is pushing for the removal of a Supreme Court judge.
In October last year, Mboya petitioned the JSC to kick out Ndung’u and her colleagues Ojwang and Ibrahim for staging a go-slow in solidarity with Rawal and Tunoi, who had been asked to retire at 70.
However, the JSC instead recommended the three Supreme Court judges be reprimanded.