• President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday received a tribunal report recommending removal of a high Court judge over gross misconduct.
• Justice Muya was accused of bias, abuse of office, incompetency and gross misconduct in the manner he handled a case where NIC bank had been sued by two petitioners.
Image: COURTESY
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday received a tribunal report recommending removal of High Court judge Martin Mati Muya over gross misconduct.
The tribunal was tasked to investigate the judge's conduct.
The tribunal was initiated in May last year following a petition by the Judicial Service Commission- JSC.
The JSC in the petition asked Uhuru to initiate a tribunal to remove three judges, Mati being among them.
The other two are Justice D.K. Njagi Marete and Lady Justice Lucy Waithaka.
The commission in the petition said it was satisfied that petitions filed against the three judges raised serious integrity issues that warrant their removal.
“After hearing the following 3 petitions, the Commission was satisfied that they disclosed grounds for removal under Article 168 (1) of the Constitution and made a decision to Petition H.E. the President for the appointment of Tribunals under Article 168 (5) of the Constitution,” read part bof a statement.
Justice Muya was accused of bias, abuse of office, incompetency and gross misconduct in the manner he handled a case where NIC bank had been sued by two petitioners.
“The petition against the Hon. Mr. Justice Martin Mati Muya was filed by NIC Bank which was the defendant in Bomet HCCC No. 4 of 2016 Alfred Kipkorir Mutai & Kipsigis Stores Ltd -Vs- NIC Bank Limited.
“In that case, the Hon Judge, after numerous adjournments, granted an injunction and reserved the reasons thereof for a period of 5 months. This was in total disregard of the pleas by the NIC Bank that the motor vehicles that had been given to it as security were being sold and were eventually sold thus occasioning loss to the bank,” read the statement.
Uhuru then intiated the Tribunal chaired by Justice (Rtd.) Alnasir Visram with Lucy Kambuni as the Vice- Chairperson and Justice (Rtd.) Festus Azangalala, Ambrose Weda, Andrew Bahati Mwamuye, Sylvia Wanjiku Muchiri and Amina Abdalla as members.
Others were Paul Nyamodi (Lead Assisting Counsel) and Stella Munyi (Assisting Counsel) as well as Peter Kariuki and Josiah Musili as Joint Secretaries.
"The unanimous finding of the Tribunal was that the allegations against the Judge have been proven. Accordingly, the Tribunal unanimously recommended the removal of the Hon. Mr. Justice Martin Mati Muya from the Office of Judge of the High Court of Kenya," read part of the report.
Uhuru extended his gratitude to the Tribunal for dispensing with the matter expeditiously, and called for expedited consideration of the pending Petitions with respect to Lady Justice Lucy Waithaka (Environment and Land Court) and Justice Njagi Marete (Employment and Labour Relations Court).