Inside the battle at JSC to save Njoki Ndung’u

Will Supreme Court judge Njoki Ndung’u face a tribunal or not?

That was the question last night after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) failed to pronounce itself on the matter following a protracted meeting that ended minutes to 9pm.

It was a night of high drama at the JSC offices as journalists who were called for a press conference were huddled in a room for hours, not knowing why they had been called, with no one acknowledging the invite.

Court officials, too, had to brave the chilly evening as they waited for Chief Justice David Maraga and the commissioners to conclude their meeting.

Finally, the secret leaked. And it was no surprise. An insider told the Nation that the elephant in the room was whether or not Judge Ndung’u should face a tribunal.

TRIBUNAL

Wednesday’s debacle was the second after a similar meeting last week ended in a stalemate. The JSC is reportedly facing external influence, which is said to be significant.

The Nation learnt that at the meeting, the commissioners had at one point agreed to recommend the formation of tribunals to probe three judges, but a split emerged on whether Ms Ndung’u should face a panel over her conduct.

The JSC was to decide Justice Ndung’u’s fate after she failed to appear to respond to claims against her.

Justice Ndung’u failed to appear before the Commission saying the complainant — lawyer Apollo Mboya — had dropped the accusations against her.

Through her lawyer Andrew Musangi, Justice Ndung’u said a complaint filed against her had been dropped by the complainant and in their view, there was no need of appearing before a committee of the commission as had been directed.

COMPLAINTS

Mr Mboya had filed two complaints against the Supreme Court judge.

In one of the complaints, the lawyer accused Justice Ndung’u and other judges of the top court of “boycotting” work in 2015 protesting the move by the JSC to retire Justice Philip Tunoi after he attained the mandatory age of 70 years.

But in the matter, the JSC reprimanded her, a decision both she and Mr Mboya were not happy with as both filed petitions before the High Court.

She, on her part, accused the JSC of “acting in concert with” Mr Mboya to orchestrate the proceedings against her, whereas Mr Mboya said JSC should have recommended the formation of a tribunal to investigate the judge.

Last evening, what started off as confusion and uncertainty at the JSC’s offices in Reinsurance Plaza in Nairobi turned comical as journalists who were frustrated by the goings-on were kept on the edge with promises of a statement from the commissioners, only to wait for hours with nothing forthcoming.

ACCUSED

And as cars belonging to the commissioners left minutes after 8pm the promise of a statement from the JSC was all that was dangled.

But when Chief Justice Maraga addressed the media at 9pm, he said he would issue a comprehensive statement today. He acknowledged the deliberations had taken longer than had been planned.

Other judges who have appeared before the JSC to respond to various accusations are D.K Njagi, Edward Muriithi, Martin Muya, Thripsisa Cherere, Mary Muthoni Gitumbi, Lucy Waithaka, Amin Farah, James Wakiaga and former principal judge of the High Court Richard Mwongo.