Chief Justice David Maraga has condemned the accusations made against some judges by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’I alleging that they  give biased orders in favour of the opposition in order to humiliate the government.

Maraga, who said he would not comment specifically on the contempt of court case surrounding Matiang’i since it was in the Court of appeal, said that judges make their rulings based on law and the evidence provided in court.

“Courts deal with these maters as they come and if one is not happy, they can always appeal these decisions. There is no question of the court being controlled by litigants. It can’t be,” Maraga said.

Maraga explained that some of these matters go to a particular division of the courts and that is why they are always dealt with by the same judges.

“We have the Judicial Review Division, the Constitutional Review Division and invariably you will find they are being dealt with by the same judges,” He said.

Maraga was responding to the accusations made by Matiang’i on Wednesday that a clique of judicial officers have an “unholy relationship” with political lawyers and civil society activists and are out to derail and embarrass the government.

“A clique of judicial officers, this is not about the Judiciary, our judiciary has some of the finest people in the country, but a click of judicial officers have gotten into  an unholy-relationship with political lawyers and civil society activists with the intention of humiliating and stalling the operations of the government,” Matiang’i said while addressing a parliamentary committee.

The CJ acknowledged that judges can make mistakes too and reiterated the legal avenue the appellate court offers in such cases.

“Judges can make mistakes in the orders but there are some other channels like the Court of Appeal where the aggrieved can go to,” he said.

LSK DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM MATIANG’I  OVER REMARKS ON JUDGES

The Law Society of Kenya has demanded that Dr Matiang’i apologises for his “unfortunate remarks” on Judges.