Labour Court Judge Nduma Nderi was on Tuesday asked to defend his suitability for appointment to Supreme Court having dealt with a specialised court.
Justice Nderi defended himself citing his more than 30 years of litigation as a prosecutor, defence attorney, having successfully defended promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya before the East African court.
He also cited serving as a judge in Swaziland is more than enough experience and he qualifies to be in Supreme Court.
He said even though he has sat at the Labour Court, the matters he has dealt with go beyond just employment issues and touch on constitutional interpretation.
Judge Nderi is one of the seven shortlisted for the position of Supreme Court judge and was the third person to appear before the Judicial Service Commission panel.
In his daily decisions, he said, he has used Supreme Court decisions as authority to guide him and that in itself allowed him to be well versed with the court’s thinking.
He informed the JSC that he prefers if the Supreme Court draws its membership from across different superior courts in order to bring on board diversity.
Justice Nderi gave an example of the Colombian Supreme Court which he said has its membership drawn from diverse courts which have in his view enriched its decisions reflecting diverse views.
