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Lobby claims plot to harm CJ Koome, supreme judges
Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association President Justice Stephen Radido addresses journalists on June 16, 2024 at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- The lobby asked the petitioners to allow the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the body responsible for hiring and firing judges, to do its work without intimidation or threats.
- In a statement, KMJA president and High Court judge Stephen Radido asked the JSC to stand firm and handle the two petitions seeking the removal of the Apex court judges in line with the law.
Judges and magistrates have claimed that recent social media posts and the alleged withdrawal of police officers attached to Chief Justice Martha Koome are part of a coordinated attack on the Supreme Court.
The Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association (KMJA) on Thursday claimed that there have also been subtle threats by a section of lawyers to physically harm the seven judges of the Supreme Court, in a bid to intimidate them and anyone handling petitions seeking their removal from office.
The lobby asked the petitioners to allow the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the body responsible for hiring and firing judges, to do its work without intimidation or threats.
In a statement, KMJA president and High Court judge Stephen Radido asked the JSC to stand firm and handle the two petitions seeking the removal of the Apex court judges in line with the law.
Justice Radido said in the statement that the KMJA has been cornered into pushing back on social media following a long-running campaign against Chief Justice Koome and the other Supreme Court judges on the same platforms.
“One of the petitioners has been using coded language with undertones of actual violence to cause harm and destruction to the Judiciary, judges, and judicial officers to achieve a predetermined outcome at all costs… In further prosecution of an agenda against the Judiciary and judges, a message was posted of a preparedness to bomb the Supreme Court with a warning to civilians advised to evacuate,” Mr Radido said in his statement.
The statement adds to the simmering battle for the heart of the Judiciary, which on Tuesday culminated into a second petition for the removal from office of the seven most powerful judges in Kenya.
In the second petition, 13 lawyers working at Ahmednasir Abdullahi Advocates LLP accuse the seven judges of gross misconduct for banning them from appearing before the Supreme Court on account of a grudge against the law firm’s founder.
The founder, former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) president, and Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi, was banned from appearing before the apex court in January 2024. The ban was extended to encompass all advocates working in his law firm.
Another former LSK president, Nelson Havi, filed a petition for removal of the judges on January 13. Mr Havi also cited gross misconduct, and one of his grounds was the Supreme Court’s ban on Mr Abdullahi.
The LSK on January 23 said that it would mobilise lawyers to boycott Supreme Court cases, and even occupy the premises, to protest the ban on Mr Abdullahi and staff in his law firm.
The KMJA asked the JSC to come out to reassure the public that the petitions for removal of the entire Supreme Court bench will be handled fairly and by the law.
The lobby also asked judges and judicial officers to stay true to their oath of office and maintained that the KMJA will use all legal means to ensure that the law is followed in the ongoing stand-off and ensuing petitions before the JSC.
“The Executive Council calls for calm amongst the judges and judicial officers and assures them that the council will explore all legitimate avenues to ensure that the constitutional safeguards and protections assured to them in performance of their constitutional obligations are not breached or violated,” Justice Radido added.