Past rulings put Rawal on the spot for top job

The deputy Chief Justice nominee was taken to task Friday over some judgments and court decisions she made during her service in the Judiciary.

Lady Justice Kalpana Rawal, who appeared before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament for vetting, was questioned on why she rejected the video evidence in the murder case of university lecturer Chrispine Mbai.

She was also at pains to explain her orders for exhumation of a body without following due process and on a defamation case regarding utterances made by a former MP on the murder of Dr Robert Ouko, a former Cabinet minister in the Moi government.

Justice Rawal was also questioned on her role in the inquiry into the plane crash that killed Cabinet minister George Saitoti, his assistant Orwa Ojodeh and four others as well as her appointment as a designate judge for the International Criminal Court in pursuance to its request to collect evidence from security officers in Kenya.

About 20 committee members grilled Ms Rawal at Nairobi’s Continental House on integrity and morality, her vision for the Judiciary, knowledge, experience and competence as well as what inspired her to seek the job.

In a session that lasted close to four hours and chaired by Mr Samuel Chepkong’a, the Court of Appeal judge denied that she was a gatekeeper judge for the Executive.

Eye for Executive

She also refuted claims that she was an eye for the Executive in the Judiciary, insisting that she handled all matters that came to her professionally, without bias or favour.

“I am not a gate-keeper of the Executive and I am telling you this from the deepest of my conscience,” she said.

The committee had sought to know whether it was a coincidence that she was asked to administer some of the controversial cases that touched on the state.