CJ Martha Koome Schools Gachagua On Having Justice Esther Maina Removed From Office

Her sentiments come after Gachagua revealed his plan to file a petition against Justice Maina on Thursday, January 18

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Jan 15, 2024 - 18:41 Updated: Jan 15, 2024 - 19:13
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CJ Martha Koome Schools Gachagua On Having Justice Esther Maina Removed From Office
Collage of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Chief Justice (CJ) Martha Koome. /VIRAL TEA KE

Chief Justice Martha Koome has broken her silence on Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua's announcement that he would seek her services regarding the removal of Justice Esther Maina of the High Court.

Speaking during a press briefing on Monday, January 15, the CJ, who chairs the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), broke down the process of having a judge removed from office over allegations that include gross misconduct and corruption.

"We want to assure Kenyans that JSC has continued to deal firmly with all the allegations of corruption and misconduct presented to the commission. We also want to emphasize that to remove a judge from office, the provisions are specified in the Constitution.

Chief Justice Martha Koome looking at her laptop during a past court session. /FILE

"Where any or some of these grounds are alleged, the concerned judge is entitled to due process. Should the tribunal recommend the removal of a judge, that judge also has a right to challenge the decision of the tribunal through an appeal process to the Supreme Court," she addressed.

Tearing into President William Ruto and the Executive leadership, the Chief Justice slammed his and other declarations by his allies to go against court orders, warning of consequences that threaten to spiral the country into chaos.

"It is regrettable that the leadership of the Executive and the Legislature in the recent public declarations have threatened not to obey court orders because of corruption. These threats and declarations are extremely serious and a monumental assault to the Constitution. It is also an assault to the rule of law and the ability of the nation and can lead to chaos and anarchy in our motherland," she went on.

She termed their declaration that they will no longer obey court orders and the subsequent actual defiance of the orders granted by the courts amount to contempt of court, adding that "if this course is allowed to continue unabated, we are on the precipice of a constitutional crisis that can lead to untold civil strife. The Judiciary and the JSC will not be part of it."

"When judges are attacked publicly and they are hearing live matters, they feel intimidated, they feel harassed, they feel like they are being ordered to rule in a certain way. They get embarrassed.

"We have a principle in law called sub judice, when the matter is pending in court, in as much as possible, let us not discuss it in the public domain because the judges are not in that public domain," she added.

CJ Koome thus pleaded with politicians to stop discussing live matters in public to allow the judges and judicial officers to engage with the matters objectively and deal with those matters according to the evidence and according to the law.

Nonetheless, she assured that the JSC has prepared a draft of complaints or petition processing regulations which will subsequently be submitted for deliberations before the National Assembly.

Her sentiments come after Gachagua revealed his plan to file a petition against Justice Maina on Thursday, January 18 over her decision to declare his wealth as proceeds of crime in what he termed an act of misconduct and corruption, adding that he was not given a chance to be heard.

"I will lead by example on Thursday this coming week. I will personally present a petition before CJ Koome against Justice Esther Maina for her removal from the Judiciary for misconduct and corruption. She declared my hard-earned wealth as proceeds of crime without allowing me to be heard," he announced.