CJ Martha Koome Blasts Willy Mutunga in Blunt Letter Over Incitement

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Chief Justice Martha Koome has forthrightly attacked former Judiciary boss Willy Mutunga for attempting to butt into her authority.

Yesterday, Mutungu revealed that he would rally judges of the Court of Appeal to down tools in protest of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s refusal to appoint six justices, four of whom were to serve at the appellate court.

According to the former Chief Justice, striking would compel President Uhuru Kenyatta to swear in the judges.

It is a position that has irked Koome, who has in a hard-hitting letter condemned Mutunga.

The Chief Justice said she was deeply concerned by the utterances, which she said were distasteful and if judges were to heed to his advice, Kenyans would suffer, as justice would be delayed.

“The implication for calling for a judicial strike is far-reaching. It is in part, calling for suspension or dismemberment of the constitution by excluding one arm of the government from constitutional operations of our democratic state

“While it is appreciated that every person is entitled to intellectual or opinionative expression, it must be remembered that where such expressions threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions of Kenyans, we must all stand together to find lesser damaging alternatives,” she said.

She disclosed that there were more than 700,000 pending court cases and the priority now is clearing this backlog, which she is it was worth billions of shillings and affecting millions of people and families.

Koome said she found Mutunga’s suggestion rather outrageous, as a few years ago he was in a similar situation.

She reminded him that in 2015 when he was the head of the Judiciary, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) recommended the 25 judges for an appointment, but President Uhuru Kenyatta only endorsed 14 and the remaining 11 had to wait for a period of more than one year.

“To deal with the impasse, Dr. Mutunga adopted a diplomatic approach that included a plea to the Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association to withdraw a suit filed on the same matter to allow negotiations.

“The former Chief Justice’s perilous call for judges to down their tools, an outcome which he consciously avoided during his tenure, is not the answer,” the President of the Supreme Court said.

Further, she told Mutunga that the oath of office he took when he became the first sheriff of the third arm of the government under the new constitution was to always protect the Constitution and that transcends the life of every retired Chief Justice.

The post CJ Martha Koome Blasts Willy Mutunga in Blunt Letter Over Incitement appeared first on LitKenya.

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