Even after appointing the 11 judges, the Law Society of Kenya moved to court to protest the President’s failure to appoint all the 25 judges as proposed by JSC.
About a year later, the President appointed 14 new judges, who were part of the 25 recommended for appointment the previous year.
The Chief Justice has censured the President for ignoring a court order and refusing to appoint 41 judges forwarded to him by the JSC.
But according to Kenyatta, some judges in the list had integrity issues. The matter is before the Court of Appeal, but it is something that should not have gone there anyway.
When the Judicial Service Commission is picking the candidates, the President’s representatives are present.
They are there to look after his concerns and they are the Attorney General and the chair of the Public Service Commission. This means that any issues that the President might have raised should be handled at this stage.
Any concerns the President had about the 41 judges should have been raised at that stage and not at the appointing stage.
This is because the President has no legal jurisdiction to alter the recommendations of JSC or subject it to any review. Even the courts ruled that the President cannot change the list, review or reject the names.
Sadly, Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki moved to contest the High Court decision on January 6, 2020 which faulted Kenyatta for delaying the appointment of the 41 judges.
Lawyer Nzamba Kitonga spoke to the Star
