Chief Justice Martha Koome’s first 100 days in office

A day after this year’s Madaraka Day celebrations in Kisumu, Chief Justice Martha Koome visited court stations in the lakeside city on a part meet-the-people, part ad hoc inspection of facilities.

The visit was Judge Koome’s first official engagement, hence it was a landmark visit coming just 10 days after her swearing-in.

In the Kisumu courts, she was told that Court of Appeal sittings had been suspended for two years owing to a shortage of judges. 

Justice Koome then wrote to President Uhuru Kenyatta requesting for a meeting and listed the shortage of judges as part of the agenda.

On June 4, two days after laying out the frustrations of justice delivery in stations like Kisumu and Nyeri to President Kenyatta, a gazette notice that would prove to be divisive was published.

In the gazette notice, President Kenyatta appointed 34 judges to various stations in the High Court and Court of Appeal.

First sightings of the gazette notice gave hope that tension between the Executive and Judiciary were coming to an end, as Mr Kenyatta had for more than a year refused to appoint 41 judges nominated by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

But a deeper look at the document revealed that President Kenyatta had left out six nominees – High Court registrar Judith Omange, Chief Magistrate Evans Makori, Justices Aggrey Muchelule, Joel Ngugi, George Odunga and Weldon Korir.

While the president’s move has sparked more outrage over the exclusion of the six nominees, Chief Justice Koome believes that the addition of 34 judicial officers is one of the biggest achievements in her first 100 days in office.

Despite the JSC asking the High Court to dismiss a case seeking to compel President Kenyatta to appoint the six outcasts, Justice Koome insists that she is still trying to have the matter resolved.

In an interview yesterday, Kenya’s top judge said she has written to the Head of State requesting that he gazette the appointment of the six judges.

State House’s rejection of the six nominees has been one of the most controversial happenings of Justice Koome’s tenure.

The Chief Justice describes herself as a problem solver, and says that she will attempt to ease the tension between the Executive and the Judiciary before leaving office.

“I wrote a letter to His Excellency the President and listed three things for discussion around the broad thematic area of administration of justice. I sent that letter and was pleasantly surprised that after just one day a gazette notice was issued announcing the appointment of 34 judges.”

“I was very grateful to His Excellency the President for appointing those judges but as I said publicly, it was bittersweet because six judges who were nominated by JSC were not appointed.

"So I continued pleading with His Excellency to appoint the six judges so that this stalemate of appointment of judges can be brought to an end and we can move on to appoint other judges because we really need 20 judges so that we can be able to give access to justice to Kenyans,” Justice Koome said.

Her tenure has also seen two High Court judges – Muchelule and Said Chitembwe – arrested for alleged corruption.

While the two have not been charged, the DCI says it is probing a bribery case against them.

Justice Koome said she has held talks with Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i over how to treat judges suspected to have engaged in criminal activities.

“It is in this regard that we have engaged the Ministry of Interior and Coordination and we have developed a clear protocol to be used by criminal investigative agencies when they need to interrogate and process any judge or judicial officer,” the Chief Justice said.

In future, judges and magistrates will be questioned without dramatic arrests in chambers as was the case with Justices Chitembwe, Muchelule and Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu three years ago, the Chief Justice said.

While the stalemate continues, perhaps the undisputed win for Justice Koome is securing an okay to set up the Judiciary Fund, which has yet to be implemented 11 years since the Constitution was promulgated.

Article 173 of the Constitution provides for the setting up of a Judiciary Fund. 

The facility is to be financed by a fraction of the annual budgetary allocations, fines collected by courts and various fees charged to litigants.

The Chief Justice says that she has now been given a go ahead by the National Treasury, Central Bank of Kenya and the National Assembly’s budget committee to set up the Judiciary Fund.

But this means that the Judiciary will have to migrate from the government’s Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS).

The Judiciary has now tasked a team of technical experts in finance and information technology to develop a new system, which will be operational in the next financial year.

“It is work in progress. We have to set up our own (version of) IFMIS. I am very wary of exiting IFMIS to somewhere money can be pilfered. It (the new system) will be ready in December but will be operational on July 2 next year,” the Chief Justice added.

Justice Koome said that the Judiciary has tried to mediate the wrangles that have split the Law Society of Kenya’s top brass.

President Nelson Havi has been engaged in a war with CEO Mercy Wambua, a move that has threatened to stall the umbrella body’s operations.

Justice Koome said she has met with various LSK stakeholders, including senior lawyers and branch officials in a bid to quell the stalemate.

“We are also concerned by the conflict at LSK. Everyone who asks for courtesy calls has been allowed to come. Branches and their chairs came together and we had fruitful talks. The eight council members, they came here and we discussed.”

“The association of Christian lawyers came and we even discussed the possibility of having court annexed mediation. I also had fruitful talks with the senior counsel bar and they agreed to see if they can mediate the wrangles. The LSK was a voice of reason and we would all like to see LSK go back to those days,” she added.

What successes have you registered in your first 100 days?

In the past 100 days I have written a letter to the CS Lands and asked for land to be allocated to Judiciary. I am happy to report that we have been allocated 55 acres in Ngong where we plan to build a Judiciary Training Institute.

We had support from the World Bank where they constructed for us 28 courts. When I came in office that contract was coming to an end. There were about 10 courts which were not completed. We requested for an extension and it was extended to October 31. We are working hard with department of building units so that by October 31 these projects can be handed over complete.

The access road to Milimani (Law Courts) was in a bad state. When I went there I saw how bad the road was. I wrote to KeNHA and the Nairobi Metropolitan Services. I’m told today that the road and the parking have been done.

The Judiciary has established a Judiciary Police Unit. For the past 10 years we have been talking about setting up the unit. So I took it upon myself to ask for a meeting with CS Dr (Fred) Matiang’i and the Inspector General of Police (Hillary Mutyambai). I put together a committee led by Supreme Court Judge (William) Ouko. This unit has now been set up with 3,000 officers.

Operationalisation of the Judiciary Fund. We can never achieve Judiciary Independence until we have budgetary independence. We have engaged the National Treasury, the Central Bank and the Commission on budgeting and we have been authorised to operationalise the Judiciary Fund.

What will you do about corruption in the Judiciary, real or perceived?

This has been an ongoing process. Kenyans express themselves very clearly. Every leadership that comes into office comes with the intention to fight corruption. If anyone in the Judiciary is practicing corruption they know they are committing an offence and they are living on borrowed time. We are working with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), DCI and other agencies to clear corruption cases before us. Even if we are so good as a Judiciary, we cannot fight corruption alone.

On technology to enhance justice delivery:

We are automating processes. Many courts are now virtual. We had very good feedback from a litigant who was in Malindi and was able to give his submissions from his living room. We are working with the ICT ministry on the last mile connectivity to internet (project). We are trying to see if there can be a station at Huduma Centres. The Judiciary has partnered with the Ministry of Public Service Youth and Gender Affairs with the objective of providing some of the judicial services through Huduma Centers.

What is the Judiciary doing to ease tension with the Executive, which believes this is the weakest link in the fight against corruption?

For a government to succeed, you cannot isolate one arm. We must move together. If there is tension, we must address that. Sometimes the Executive will speak as a (disgruntled) litigant. But the Judiciary is an arm of government must be respected and treated with dignity because it is the one that upholds the rule of law, our Constitution and democracy. But I just see possibilities for dialogue. For us to come together and discuss. In fact, I have just asked that we have a forum to discuss these issues.

What have you done to clear case backlog that has dogged the Judiciary for years?

651,670 cases are pending in the courts system. Some of these cases have been in the system for more than 5 years. I am committed to reducing these numbers so that no case exceeds 3 years at the trial court or more than 1 year at the Court of Appeal.

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