BY ROB JILLO
Updated : 1 hours and 53 minutes ago
 |  |  |
| null     1/1 Kenya\'s new Chief Justice Dr Willy Mutunga/FILE NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 16 - The long road to Kenya's judicial reforms kicked off in earnest on Thursday when President Mwai Kibaki appointed renowned reformist Dr Willy Mutunga as the next Chief Justice. The President gazetted Dr Mutunga as CJ alongside his Deputy Nancy Baraza and the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko, hours after Members of Parliament approved the nominees after an acrimonious vetting process. A statement from State House indicated that the President had also gazetted the five names of Supreme Court judges whose nominations were approved on Thursday by the Judicial Service Commission. "President Mwai Kibaki has today signed the gazette notices appointing into office, Chief Justice - Dr Willy Munywoki Mutunga, Deputy Chief Justice - Ms Nancy Makokha Baraza," the dispatch from the Presidential Press Service stated. It added: "Judges of the Supreme Court: Hon Mr Justice Philip Kiptoo Tunoi, Hon Mr Justice Jackton Boma Ojwang', Hon Mr Justice Mohamed Khadhar Ibrahim, Ms Njoki Ndungu Susanna and Dr Smokin Wanjala and Director of Public Prosecutions - Mr Keriako Tobiko." According to the statement, the new officers will be sworn into office on Monday next week. On Wednesday night, Parliament passed the judicial nominees after heated debate with some MPs demanding that DPP nominee Mr Tobiko is subjected to further investigations following allegations of misconduct. The legislators however passed amendments that deleted the clause that called for further investigations paving way for President Kibaki to appoint him alongside the other nominees. The acrimonious debate in the House saw two legislators nominated MP Millie Odhiambo thrown out for flouting Standing Orders. Ms Odhiambo was thrown out for alleging that at least 15 percent of Kenyans were gay. Mr Mbadi faced similar fate moments later after he protested to the chair that he was denied opportunity to oppose the approval of Mr Tobiko as the DPP. Dr Mutunga will be the President of the Supreme Court while Ms Baraza will be the Vice President of the court. This is the first time Kenya will have a Supreme Court which came about following the promulgation of the new Constitution in August last year. The five judges of the Supreme Court appointed on Thursday were selected from a shortlist of 26 candidates. According to the Constitution, the Supreme Court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction to hear and determine disputes relating to the elections to the office of President. It shall also have appellate jurisdiction to hear and determine appeals from the Court of Appeal and any other court or tribunal as prescribed by the national legislation. The Constitution further states that appeals shall lie from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court as of right in any case involving interpretation or application of the Constitution and in any other case in which the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal certifies that a matter of general public importance is involved. All courts will be bound by the decisions of the Supreme Court. The Judicial Service Commission is expected to begin the selection process for new High Court judges next month, an exercise that will last six weeks. Follow us on TWITTER @CapitalFM_Kenya and the author https://twitter.com/robjillo |
Read more: http://capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/New-CJ%2C-deputy-and-DPP-take-up-office-Monday-13232.html#ixzz1PT2fv5Ra
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment