I am ready to forgive the judge, Rebecca Kerubo Morara the security guard at the centre of the gun saga involving Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Baraza said yesterday even as Chief Justice Willy Mutunga set up a seven-person investigations team and ordered them to report back himby this Friday.
Morara who reported back to work at the Village Market where she is deployed said she was willing to meet and forgive the judge. Morara had lodged an assault complaint against Baraza at the Gigiri police station following the New Year eve incident.
Morara, who has been at home since the incident said she had been summoned by the police several times to answer questions on the incident. She said the continued questioning was distressing herself and her three children and she wanted the matter to go away. "After all that has been happening since the incident happened, l just want to forgive her for the incident. Some people have claimed l am asking for money which l did not. I just want to be done with the incident forever because it is not helping me or anyone. This is a matter that can only be sorted out by the two of us. I just don't know if my act of forgiving her will cause me further problems,"Morara said yesterday afternoon.
Following the emergency meeting of the Judicial Service Commission, Mutunga appointed the team led by Rev Samuel Kobia which is expected to review the evidence so far collected by the police, the statements recorded by witnesses as well as the complaint filed by the security guard Rebecca Kerubo Morara.
Other members of the probe team are JSC members Prof Christine Mango, Justice Isaac Lenaola, Chief magistrate Emily Ominde, Titus Gatere, lawyers Ahmednassir Abdullahi and Florence Mwangangi. Also on the team is chief registrar Gladys Boss Shollei who will also serve as the secretary of the committee.
Yesterday, Morara said that several people have offered to mediate between her and the judge but she has been reluctant to take up their offer because she did not know the motive behind the offers. Last Thursday, a woman who claimed to be Baraza's emissary visited Kerubo at her Gachie residence and offered to act as a mediator between Morara and the judge. The woman, who was accompanied by two Standard Group journalists, only handed over bags of groceries and refused to identify herself when she realised the press were present.
Subsequent to the visit, reports emerged that Morara had demanded Sh3 million from Baraza so that she could withdraw the complaint. Morara and her husband Oweche have since denied making such demands either directly or through a lawyer as claimed.
Another attempt has been made at mediation between the two but nothing has so far come of it. " Someone called me again and told me that the judge still wants to ask for my forgiveness. I don't know if they are genuinely representing her but l will wait and see," Morara said. Two people have since the New Year's eve incident filed a petition with the JSC demanding Baraza removed from office.
Commenting on the incident last Thursday, the Chief Justice declared that no one was above the law before summoning yesterday's emergency session of the JSC. Muytunga's statement came a day before Baraza issued a statement denying threatening Morara with a gun. “The unfortunate incident at the Village Market should be viewed in the light of genuine security apprehension on my part. I certainly had no intention of high handedness, arrogance or ill will,” she had said in her statement.
During the JSC meeting, Irungu Kang'ata who said he was representing Morara was not allowed inside as the session was a private one and not an official hearing. Mutunga said Morara will be given audience once the hearings start. The JSC is the body that employs judges, magistrates and other judicial officers.
The JSC can also discipline Judiciary officials or recommend to the President that a tribunal be formed to remove a judge from office. Judges can be removed if they are found to be incompetent, are in breach of the code of conduct for public officers, are bankrupt or are found to have misbehaved.
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