FILE | NATION Former Chief Justice Evan Gicheru at a past function. The Judicial Service Commission on February28, 2011 agreed to open up the hiring of the next CJ to foreign judges.
By Jillo Kadida jkadida@ke.nationmedia.comPosted Monday, February 28 2011 at 22:00
In Summary
- JSC gives applicants 21 days to submit papers as search for Gicheru replacement takes off
Foreign judges can now apply to become Kenya’s Chief Justice.
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the body mandated to initiate the process of finding a replacement for Mr Justice Evan Gicheru, has decided to open the door to outsiders.
And the candidates eyeing the job will have 21 days in which to submit their applications.
This was among the issues that the JSC agreed on yesterday in a meeting held at the High Court, Nairobi.
According to sources privy to the meeting, the commission also agreed that both the positions of Chief Justice and his deputy will be advertised in the Kenya Gazette and all local dailies on Friday.
The advertisements will also be placed on the Judiciary website and the Kenya Law Reports website.
The advertisement was prepared by a committee of the commission made up of Mr Justice Isaac Lenaola, magistrate Emily Ominde, lawyers Ahmednasir Abdullahi and Florence Mwangangi and High Court registrar Lydia Achode.
However, the commission could not give a time frame within which it will complete the exercise of sifting through the applications and forwarding the final names to the two principals.
Under the Constitution, a person applying for the job of chief judge should have 15 years’ experience as a superior court judge.
Alternatively, the candidate should have at least 15 years’ experience as a distinguished academic, judicial officer or legal practitioner.
Process stalled
The process of replacing Mr Justice Gicheru stalled after President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga failed to agree on the President’s nomination of Mr Justice Alnashir Visram.
The President had nominated Mr Justice Visram as Chief Justice, Prof Githu Muigai as Attorney-General and lawyer Kioko Kilukumi as the Director of Public Prosecutions. The President had also nominated Mr William Kirwa for the post of Controller of Budget.
However, Mr Odinga claimed he had not been consulted as required by the Constitution and the National Accord.
The JSC and the Committee on Implementation of the Constitution joined the choir, saying the nominations were unconstitutional because the provisions under the Constitution were never followed.
The President was accused of failing to involve the JSC, which is the body mandated under the Constitution to give recommendations of those to be nominated.
The controversy ended up in court after which High Court judge Daniel Musinga gave a ruling declaring the nominations unconstitutional on the grounds that they ignored gender equality and JSC’s role.
This forced the Head of State to withdraw the names of the nominees and start the process afresh.
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