CJ warns Jubilee, Nasa politicians over attacks on judges

The Judiciary on Wednesday confronted Jubilee and National Super Alliance politicians over their frequent criticism of judges and sought to assure Kenyans of its impartiality in deciding election petitions.

In an uncharacteristic display of boldness, a straight-shooting Chief Justice David Maraga took issue with politicians, whom he said had a habit of attacking individual judges based on their tribes and told them to keep off the Judiciary.

He warned that he would not cave in to political demands to move some judges from particular roles, vowing not to interfere with the independence of members of the Judiciary.

He said a pattern had in the past few months emerged where political leaders habitually hurled attacks at members of the Judiciary, focusing either on individual judges or the institution as a whole.

“The Judicial Service Commission takes great exception to this development and demands that political and other leaders cease forthwith from this ignoble conduct that interferes with the work of the officers charged with the administration of justice,” he said on the steps of the Supreme Court Building in Nairobi, accompanied by senior JSC members and judges.

INTIMIDATION

He listed President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto, Nasa flagbearer Raila Odinga, his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri,  and Kinango MP Gonzi Rai as some of the leaders who had recently tried to intimidate the Judiciary.

Yesterday’s warning appeared to have been triggered by a letter from Jubilee Party secretary-general Raphael Tuju, who on Tuesday asked the CJ to replace High Court Judge George Odunga  as the duty judge in the remaining days to and immediately after the elections.

READ: Why Jubilee wants judge dropped from poll cases

Mr Tuju claimed the judge had been making biased rulings in favour of the opposition alliance because of his familial relationship with Siaya Senator James Orengo.

“Short of him (Justice Odunga) recusing himself as an act of honour, as we would expect in line with rule 5 of the Judicial Officers Ethics Code, we call for his replacement with another judge or bench of judges which is not perceived to be hostage to any political party,” Mr Tuju said in a letter to the CJ.

INTERFERE

In response, Justice Maraga dismissed the demand and said he would not allow politicians to interfere with the work of judges.

He recalled that President Kenyatta criticised the Judiciary on July 9, when he claimed judges were working with the opposition to frustrate the elections schedule.

“President Uhuru Kenyatta accused the Judiciary of working with the opposition when the High Court ruled that IEBC must re-advertise the tender for printing of presidential ballot papers,” he said. A day later, the President and his deputy repeated the same accusations that “judges are working with the opposition to have the elections postponed”.

The CJ said Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka had in May warned that their supporters would hold demonstrations if the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the IEBC stand that final presidential results should not be announced at the constituency level.

DECLARE RESULTS

“Nasa leaders Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka said their supporters would take to the streets in the event the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of IEBC on the question over who should declare the final results of a presidential poll,” he said.

Last December, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale accused Judge Odunga of playing tribal politics and being partisan, but Justice Maraga quickly came to his defence, saying, “Duale must stop the public lynching of judges who are merely performing their constitutional duties.”

On July 11, said the CJ , Mr Kiunjuri and Mr Rai accused him of “failing to conduct due diligence” in appointing Justice Odunga to preside over the Al Ghurair case.

In April this year, the CJ distanced himself from claims that his appointment was politically instigated after the President told a political rally in Kisii that the position was a reward to the community.

DEFENDING JUDGES

Justice Maraga said the JSC and the Judiciary would not be intimidated, adding that the commission would remain steadfast in defending judges and the institution from unwarranted attacks.

He told politicians that the judicial system had sufficient avenues for recourse should litigants be dissatisfied with decisions made by the courts.

“The most obvious one is appellate avenue, which the political leaders have themselves used extensively in the past. Allowing litigants to choose their judges would be tantamount to abdicating from a cardinal principle of judicial and decisional independence that we hold so dear,” said the CJ.

He also maintained that at no time would the JSC direct any judicial officer on how to decide cases before them. Neither will the commission ask them to recuse themselves from cases filed before them.

Past political attacks on the judiciary:

• December 22, 2016: Hon Aden Duale accuses Judge George Odunga of playing tribal politics and being partisan. This was in regard to an application by the opposition on proposed amendments before Parliament.

• May, 2017: Nasa leaders Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka say their supporters would take to the streets in the event the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of IEBC on the question over who should declare the final results of a presidential poll.

• July 9, 2017: President Uhuru Kenyatta accuses the Judiciary of working with the Opposition when the High Court ruled that IEBC must re-advertise tender for printing of presidential ballot papers.

• July 10, 2017: President Uhuru and Deputy President William Ruto insisted that Judges are working with the opposition to postpone elections.

• July 11, 2017: Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri and Kinango MP Gonzi Rai accused the Chief Justice of “failing to conduct due diligence” in appointing Justice Odunga to sit in the bench of the Al-Ghurair case.