Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has written an open letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta, over his refusal to appoint six judges in his recent appointment of judges to various courts in the country.

“List of Hate”

Willy Mutunga in the letter to the president dated June 8, 2021, says that the president’s conduct is beneath the dignity of his office and maintained that there is a process of raising an issue against a sitting judge or a Judicial Officer.

“Most disturbing is the president’s decision to omit the names of six judges and judicial officers from the list. Strikingly, the presidential ‘list of hate’ has even mysteriously changed, meaning that the objection to the judges’ nomination is driven more by personal pique rather than principle,” noted Mutunga.

The former Chief Justice further says that the president’s failure to appoint all the Judges for over two years since their names were submitted to him subjected several advocates to untold personal suffering for no reason at all’ and called into question the integrity of serving judges and judicial officers.

“The president’s conduct in this matter has been beneath the dignity of that high office. For two years he has subjected several advocates to untold personal suffering for no reason at all, and called into question the integrity of serving judges and judicial officers without any due process”.

He further urged the head of state to swear in the six judges in the name of the constitution saying considering that no complaint had been raised against the six judges within the two years it has taken for the appointments to be made, the rejection points to bad faith.

“That points to bad faith, and most likely, absence of any actionable information on the judges,” he said.

According to Mutunga, while he was still in office in 2015, it was agreed that if the president had any adverse reports on the candidates shortlisted by the Commission, they should be shared at the recruitment stage.

“This is such a fair and common sense approach that has worked before,” he said.

Last week President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed 34 of the 41  judges that had been nominated by the Judicial Service Commission(JSC) to various Courts in 2019 and rejected four Judges nominated to the Court of Appeal.

The rejected judges include; Justices Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Chacha Mwita, Aggrey Muchelule, and Weldon Korir.

Justices George Odunga and Joel Ngugi sat on the five-judge bench that declared BBI unconstitutional.

The Law Society of has also condemned the president’s failure to appoint the six judges, terming it “a gross violation of the Constitution”.

READ WILLY MUTUNGA FULL LETTER HERE

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