Man petitions JSC seeking Chief Registrar's removal

A man has filed a petition before the Judicial Service Commission seeking the removal of Judiciary Chief Registrar Anne Amadi over alleged gross misconduct.

Joseph Njuguna accuses Ms Amadi of swearing a false affidavit against then Supreme Court judge Philip Tunoi and issuing a directive to the Government Printer to publish in the Kenya Gazette notices announcing positions for the Deputy Chief Justice and a judge of the top court.

He claims the affidavit had false allegations against a Supreme Court judge and can therefore be called dishonest.

He accuses Ms Amadi of making the directive to the Government Printer a day before the Supreme Court delivered its ruling on the retirement case of then Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and Mr Tunoi.

INTERFERING WITH INDEPENDENCE

He faults Ms Amadi for issuing the directive with a notice indicating that it had been signed by then Chief Justice Willy Mutunga on June 15, yet the ruling on the case involving Ms Rawal and Mr Tunoi was to be delivered at 11am on June 16.

He insists that the notices could not have been signed by the Dr Mutunga since he did retire at 3pm on June 15 .

He calls this interference with the independence of the court and a deliberate abuse of her powers.

Mr Njuguna wants the Judicial Service Commission to determine whether it is proper to have a Chief Registrar who is impartial on matters that affect the commission, whether she falsely swore an affidavit and whether she used her office to meddle with the judicial process in the Supreme Court case.