Delay in naming new judges raises concern

Twenty-five lawyers who were nominated to become judges by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) are stuck in no-man’s land after President Uhuru Kenyatta delayed their appointment, the Sunday Nation has established.

Five months have lapsed since JSC selected the lawyers for the job.

The dilemma facing the judges-elect is that they can neither practise as lawyers nor preside over court cases in their new capacities as they while away time waiting for the political class to put their act together.

On Saturday, the chairman of the Law Society of Kenya, Mr Eric Mutua, weighed in on the appointments and called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to appoint the lawyers. He said that the judges-elect have been put in an awkward position by the delay.

“The appointment of 25 new judges has taken too long. Under the Constitution, the President is expected to act within a reasonable time after their nomination. We are concerned by the delay in appointing the judges because the backlog in courts continues and decisions in court delay,” he said.

He added: “Those appointed are also put in an awkward situation. You are waiting to be a judge, thus you can’t take up new cases; you are waiting to be a judge, you don’t want to appear before judges because lawyers will think that you will get some favours because you are part of the Judiciary. That kind of dilemma needs to be resolved.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by a member of the JSC, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

“These people who were lawyers and magistrates cannot represent their clients or work as magistrates because they are now judges-elect. This is a big problem for them. Are they sitting in court as lawyers, magistrates or in their new role as judges?” wondered the member.

Apart from throwing the judges-elect into confusion, the delay has held back proposed transfer of judges who have served in their stations for more than three years.

Last week, JSC effected piecemeal transfers of judges where they moved Justice David Majanja to Homa Bay and brought to Nairobi Justice Aggrey Muchelule and Justice Fredrick Ochieng.

Justice Muchelule was elected to JSC while Justice Ochieng is the chairman of Magistrates Association.

“Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has decided to involve associations in the management of the Judiciary. That is why it is important for Justice Ochieng to be in Nairobi where the CJ can consult with him at short notice,” says the JSC member.

According to the source, the President was waiting for the case where JSC had gone to court to stop his tribunal from investigating them to end.
“We were told the President was not sure whether JSC was properly constituted.”