Vetting of 173 magistrates put on hold pending Supreme Court ruling
Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board chairman Sharad Rao on August 26, 2014. The agency that was established to vet judges and magistrates to determine their suitability to sit on the bench seems to have run into a headwind. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Sharad Rao said the board is apprehensive that the Supreme Court’s decision, expected at the end of this month, would render the exercise a nullity.
- Justice Ngugi ruled that JMVB had no jurisdiction to scrutinise the conduct of judicial officers from the time the Constitution took effect in August 2010.
Vetting of 173 magistrates has been put on hold until the Supreme Court rules on a petition regarding the unsuitability of some judges.
Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board (JMVB) Chairman Sharad Rao said the board was apprehensive that the Supreme Court’s decision, expected at the end of this month, would render the exercise a nullity should they undertake it.
“The board is carrying out other activities. It is carrying out research and collecting information. But in form of actual vetting, we are not doing it because we will be faced with challenges, with anyone coming out and saying we are asking questions before August 2010,” Justice Rao told journalists in Mombasa on Wednesday.
VERDICT AWAITED
He was speaking on the sidelines of a one-day training workshop for Mombasa-based civil societies and journalists on the vetting process.
“If the judgement is in our favour, we say yes. Some of the challenges which are there pending before the High Court would be resolved by itself. If, on the other hand, the Supreme Court rules the other way round, we will be now fighting half a dozen battles,” added Justice Rao
The Supreme Court is expected to give its verdict on the petition filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), the JMVB and Attorney-General (AG) Githu Muigai challenging Justice Mumbi Ngugi’s ruling.
Justice Ngugi ruled that the JMVB had no jurisdiction to scrutinise the conduct of judicial officers from the time the Constitution took effect in August 2010.
