Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and Supreme Court judge Njoki Ndung’u may be cross examined in a case seeking to restrain the Judicial Service Commission from probing the latter over gross misconduct.
This is after Ndung’u made an application through her lawyer asking the court to also cross examine the former Chief Justice in relation to affidavits he swore in support of the JSC’s case which claimed that she and Justice Jackton Ojwang went on a go-slow, crippling the operations of Supreme Court in 2015.
Last month, the JSC, through lawyer Charles Kanjama, made an application requesting the court to direct Ndung’u to appear in court and be cross-examined on her sworn affidavits.
Through her lawyer Andrew Musangi, Ndung’u said she will be requesting to question the former CJ following affidavits he swore in support of JSC’s case
“It goes without saying that the former CJ should take the witness stand if this court directs that my client be interrogated on the minutes of the Supreme Court over the disputed go-slow,” Musangi said.
It is alleged that the strike was to protest the decision of the JSC to retire the then Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and Philip Tunoi upon attaining the age of 70.
Mutunga swore an affidavit in support of lawyer Apollo Mboya’s petition, accusing Ndung’u and her counterpart Ojwang of going on strike, and crippling the court’s operations for close to two weeks.
In the affidavit, Mutunga has denied the decision to go on strike in 2015 was a collective one.
Ndung’u is opposed to JSC’s intention to interrogate her, arguing it is a sideshow and wants the case to be heard on merit.