Law review court to take office
The court to arbitrate on constitution making will begin executing its mandate Friday with the swearing-in of nine judges.
The Interim Independent Constitutional Dispute Resolution Court will take over the hearing of all cases on the Constitutional review, replacing the High Court in the process.
The activation of the court –to operate as a High Court but focused exclusively on Constitution Review—comes at a time when divisions are rife among the major political players.
The court’s jurisdiction is to focus on the “all and any” disputes arising from content of the draft law and any disputes arising from the referendum.
It is crucial to note that the court meant to last for 24 months, has already spent half of its lifespan in law, and will have the remaining half to sort out the squabbling among the various parties in the journey to a new Constitution.
Top on its in-tray, are the pending suits, the most notable one being the one in the Mombasa High Court over the definition of contentious issues.
It remains to be seen how the IICDRC will deal with this particular case, which sought to suspend the timelines set by the Review Act for the publication of the harmonised draft, the 30-day public debate period in which the Committee of Experts got feedback from all interested parties, given that these issues are no longer relevant.
The argument has been that the period as set in law was a little inhibiting, given the huge illiteracy and the erratic infrastructure in some parts of the country.
Also, the people who filed the case asked the court to suspend sections to the Review Act dealing with the Reference Group, the approval of the draft by the Parliamentary Service Commission and the final publication of the new Constitution.
The judges with the noble duty to sew together the divisions arising from the Constitution are: Mr S N Mukunya, Ms Violet Haji Mavisi, Mr Sankai ole Kantai, Ms Scholastica Omondi, Mr Mburugu M’tokanaga Kioga and Ms Jamila Mohammed.
The three foreign judges are Mr Michael Bastarache from Canada, Mr John Alistair Cameron from the UK and Ms Unity Dow from Botswana.
Should the country proceed to enact a new constitution without fundamental change in the court structure, the IICDRC’s role will become the province of the proposed Supreme Court.
