Justice Ombija to sue vetting board for 'malicious' verdict
What you need to know:
- Judge plans to suits against the board's chair and Mr Abdulahi who signed determination against him.
- Justice Ombija said his verdict was signed by two panellists instead of three.
A High Court judge whom the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board declared unsuitable to continue serving on the Bench has termed the verdict malicious and said he will sue the members.
Mr Nicholas Ombija, who recently opted to resign instead of being vetted again, said he would file two suits — one against the board’s chairman, Mr Sharad Rao, and Mr Abdirashid Abdulahi, who signed the board’s determination against him, and the other against the entire vetting panel.
Through advocate Rogers Sagana, Mr Ombija accused Mr Rao, Mr Abdulahi and retired Judge Alice Mpagi-Bahegeine of merely leading an unwarranted war against him. Denying claims by the board that he failed to attend the proceedings before it, he dismissed the verdict, saying it was only signed by two panellists instead of all the three.
“Whether I resign or not is neither here nor there because I must be found unsuitable...They want to bury me alive…I was to be found unsuitable and the chance has slipped through their fingers,” Mr Ombija said.
He said his woes began when, in 2011, after he ruled on a case in which he ordered that should Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir set foot in Kenya, the Minister for Interior and the Attorney-General must ensure that he is arrested and handed over to the International Criminal Court.
