Board to deliver judges' verdict

The Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board is set to issue its verdict on the fresh vetting of two judges who had been found unfit.

The board dismissed Supreme Court Judge Mohammed Ibrahim and Court of Appeal Judge Roselyn Nambuye due to tendency to delay judgments and rulings while serving as High Court judges.

The board said the two judges’ inordinate delay in delivering judgments had contributed to the erosion of public confidence in the judiciary and had in the process, denied the litigants justice.

However, a complaint emerged on how the board reached the verdict and instead of reviewing their findings as has happened with other sacked judges, the board decided to vet the two afresh to establish whether the claims were genuine.

Meanwhile, the month-long crash hearings at the Court of Appeal to settle a backlog of over 200 cases continues with four benches sitting simultaneously in Nairobi.

The four Court of Appeal benches will sit every day in Nairobi to hear 188 civil applications and another bench of three judges will be sitting in Mombasa to hear 35 civil appeals.

The move was necessitated by the recent appointment of 16 new Appellate judges and is aimed at clearing the backlog before the new judges get acquainted to the new roles.

It also comes on the wake of decentralising the Appeal Court which will from February have permanent sittings in Kisumu, Nyeri and Malindi.