Supreme Court judge Isaack Lenaola has urged Justice Lowlence Mugambi to refer cases seeking removal of all seven supreme Court Judges to the Chief Justice Martha Koome to appoint an expanded bench to determine petitions seeking their removal.
Pleading for the expanded bench Justice Lenaola said the issues raised in the petitions opposing any move by A the judicial Service Commission JSC are complex.
The apex court judge who is opposed to a petition by former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju to have him removed from the apex court says through his lawyer Ken Nyaundi that he was not a member of the court which decided the Ksh 4.5 billion hotel dispute case with a bank.
Justice Lenaola’s plea to refer the case to the CJ was supported by the other judges of the Supreme Court whose removal has been mooted.
However, Tuju, his three children and his two companies opposed the matter being referred to the CJ to empanel three or more judges arguing that she has also been sued.
Tuju has petitioned the JSC to remove all seven supreme Court judges for alleged misconduct.
Applying for the case to be forwarded to the CJ to empanel a bench, Supreme Court Judge, Justice Isaac Lenaola, says there are weighty legal issues raised in the cases by the apex court judges which need to be addressed by more than three judges.
Mr Tuju, his children Mano,Alma and Yma ,his companies Dari Limited and S.A. M urged Justice Mugambi to decline the application by Justice Lenaola to refer the ouster petition to Justice Koome to appoint uneven number of judges to determine the complex legal issues raised in the suit seeking removal of all the seven apex court judges.
Through his lawyers Gregory Odhiambo Ndege, Paul Nyamondi and Duncan Okatchi , Tuju argued Justice Koome is one of the defendants in the ouster suits and cannot therefore be impartial.
Mr Ndege said Articles 27 and 47 of the Constitution requires every citizen to get fair administration of justice.
Justice Mugambi was told the petitions for the removal of the seven apex court judges have been filed at the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) whose chairperson is the Chief Justice-Martha Koome, also the President of the Supreme Court.
Lenaola wants the case certified by the High Court as raising a substantial question of law that needs to be heard by an uneven number of judges, being not less than three, assigned by the Chief Justice.
“The petition seeks clarity on the constitutionality of the complainants’ scheme to abolish the Supreme Court in the guise of complaints against all the seven judges. It also seeks to determine whether the seven Supreme Court judges would be entitled to approach the High Court for redress since a judge aggrieved by a removal decision is entitled to approach the Supreme Court. In this case the seven judges would be appealing to themselves -an absurdity,” says lawyer Nyaundi.
The ouster petitions originated from a unanimous decision of the Supreme Judges in January last year to ban lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi over his social media posts regarding the Apex court.
The court will deliver the ruling on April 25, 2025.
