The six Judges rejected by former President Uhuru Kenyatta over alleged integrity concerns have petitioned the High Court seeking to have the State compelled to publicly admit there was no evidence that justified their disqualification.
On July 22 and 13 August 2019, the Judicial Service Commission recommended the appointment of Aggrey Muchelule, Weldon Korir, Joel Ngugi, and George Odunga as Judges of the Court of Appeal and Evans Makori together with Judy Omange as Judges of the Environment and Lands Court.
But the then President Uhuru Kenyatta declined to appoint them saying he had intelligence reports that the six were not fit to hold office of a judge.
He never revealed the details of these reports.
Several cases were subsequently filed in court with orders being issued that Uhuru should appoint the six to their respective courts.
But even with the orders and decisions from the courts, the then-president declined to appoint the six.
They were appointed on the first day when the new regime led by President William Ruto came to power.
In an affidavit sworn by Court of Appeal Judge Aggrey Muchelule, the 6 say no explanation has ever been given as to why they were not appointed from July 22 2019 up until September 2022.
Through their advocate Elisha Ongoya, the judges say the government of Kenya has never taken responsibility and offered any remedy for the said delay in appointing them.
“We suffered public humiliation because of insinuations created by Uhuru and other public officials to the effect that we were collectively persons not fit to hold the offices of Judges in Kenya,” they argued.
As a result, they want the office of the President ordered to make a public apology or pronouncement clearing their names of allegations of unfitness to hold office.
According to the court documents, yearly increments prescribed for the Judge of the Court of Appeal are Sh 33,349 in the monthly pay and Sh 31,232 for the Judge of the Environment Court. This Ongoya says amounts to Sh 400,188 and Sh 374,784 respectively in the first year when the Judges remained unappointed which amount doubled in the second year and would triple in the third.
“We have suffered loss and damage as a result of the public humiliation and been subjected to uncertainty,” read the documents in part.
Consequently, the court of appeals Judges want to be compensated for the loss of yearly increment in payments amounting to Sh 3.9 million each. This will amount to a total of sh 15 million. The Environment judges on the other hand are asking for Sh 3.7 million each. In total being Sh 7.7 million.
Also sought is an order seeking to have the Attorney General compelled to make a public admission published in a manner to be directed by the court that no evidence was ever presented before the Judicial Service Commission or any other body that justified their disqualification.
