Constitutional Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi has called for the immediate halt of interviews for six Court of Appeal judges.
He claims the process was illegal and wants the Judicial Service Commission not to proceed with the exercise.
The senior counsel said that the process being carried by the commission is illegal adding that it was compromised from the beginning.
“As the immediate former Chairman of the Senior Council Committee of the Law Society of Kenya I call upon the Judicial Service Commission to stop forthwith the fake, sham and illegitimate interviews the Commission is conducting for the 6 positions of the Court of Appeal," Ahmednasir stated.
He claimed that majority of the commissioners are captives of the executive, hinting that the six candidates that will be appointed have already been agreed upon, by people outside the commission.
"Process doesn't meet the mandatory test of Article 10 of the Constitution and is compromised abinitio,” he added.
The interviews began last month where 30 candidates had been shortlisted for the Court of Appeal judges posts.
The process had been delayed after the High Court barred the Commission chaired by Chief Justice Martha Koome from conducting them, following a suit by the Katiba Institute.
Katiba Institute had filed a petition in court seeking to stop CJ Koome from recruiting new judges until the six judges who were left out by President Uhuru Kenyatta are appointed into office.
While issuing a stay order, Justice Anthony Mrima had argued that the Katiba Institute and co-petitioners had laid the legal basis to suspend the process being undertaken by JSC.
The Court of Appeal, however, ruled that the lobby had failed to demonstrate what prejudice the judges would suffer if the recruitment were to proceed.
Justices Wanjiru Karanja, Agnes Murgor and Imaana Laibuta reversed Justice Mrima’s decision saying the process should proceed, concurrently with the ongoing suit challenging the recruitment process.
