- A senate committee has proposed to Parliament to amend the Judicial Service Commission Act to prevail upon the president to promptly act on the JSC nominees.
- The committee inquired into the initial delayed appointment of 41 judges and rejection of the six judges by the President.
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The President will be compelled to appoint persons recommended as judges by the Judicial Service Commission if proposed amendments are enacted into law.
A Senate committee has proposed to Parliament to amend the JSC Act to make it mandatory for the President to appoint the judges within 14 days.
The committee inquired into the initial delayed appointment of 41 judges and rejection of the six judges by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“That Parliament considers legislative amendments to establish specific timelines within which certain constitutional functions must be undertaken,” the Senate Justice and Legal Affairs committee recommends in a report.
Further, the committee chaired by Nyamira Senator Okong’o Omogeni, suggests that should the President fail to appoint the nominees within 14 days, then they shall be deemed to have been appointed.
“Specifically, the JSC Act (No.1 of 2011) should be amended to provide that if the President does not appoint judges of the superior courts within 14 days of the receipt of JSC recommendations, such judges shall be deemed to have been so appointed,” the report states.
The committee also wants the law changed to allow the Attorney General to appoint an independent officer to sit in the JSC to eradicate conflict of interest.
“That Parliament considers legislative amendments to demarcate the exercise by the Attorney General of his roles under various provisions of the Constitution to eliminate instances that would present conflicts of interests or undermine the independence of different arms of government,” the report states.
The radical suggestion is aimed at ending the scenario where the President inordinately delays acting on JSC nominees.
It comes at the time when President Uhuru Kenyatta is engrossed in a bitter fight with the Judiciary over the rejection of six judges.
On Friday, the High Court gave the President 14 days to appoint six judges he rejected.
They are justices Weldon Korir, Aggrey Muchelule, George Odunga and Joel Ngugi who have been picked to sit in the Court of Appeal.
Evans Makori and Judith Elizabeth Omange Cheruiyot were appointed as judges of the Environment and Land Court.
They are among the 41 individuals that were recommended to the President for the appointment.
However, the President rejected them after their names were omitted in the gazette notice that appointed 34 of their colleagues.
The committee recommended that the President, without any further delay, proceed to gazette the appointment of the six persons nominated by the JSC.
There were reports that the President rejected the six due to integrity issues.
However, the committee, in recommending the immediate appointment of the six, asked the President to submit any adverse information he might have on the judges, to JSC.
We recommend that the president directs that any adverse information relating to the said six nominees and held by the National Intelligence Service or other state entity, be immediately submitted to the JSC for consideration according to its mandate under Article 168 of the Constitution,” the committee said.
The committee said it was improper to have a cloud of undisclosed and untested allegations hang over the six judges and for an indeterminate period.
“The measure has also stalled their career progression and it is important that the issue be urgently resolved,” it reads.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris