President Uhuru Kenyatta has made a surprise move that will effect changes to the Judiciary which several quarters feel he could be living up to his promise to “fix” it.
After the Supreme Court nullified the August 8 polls on September 1, an agitated President vowed to fix and “revisit” the Judiciary.
“I’ve always said we have a problem with our Judiciary. We shall respect the ruling, but we will revisit this agenda because we have to respect the will of the people,” Uhuru said at the time according to the Star.
Nonetheless, the new changes he has made have been perceived by some quarters to be live-up to his promise of revisiting the judiciary.
Yesterday, he nominated Justice Mwangi Kihara of the Court of Appeal as the Attorney General after the resignation of Prof Githu Muigai who has served at the State law office for the last six and a half years.
He also nominated three people to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC)-an 11-member commission which has powers to hire and fire Judges as well as other judicial staff.
Uhuru nominated former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei, former National Assembly clerk Patrick Gichohi and former Kenyatta University Vice-Chancellor Prof Olive Mugenda.
Gichohi has been nominated to fill the position of Public Service Commission Chair which fell vacant upon the nomination of Prof Margaret Kobia and Public Service, Youth and Gender CS.
Koskei on the other hand will replace Kipngetich Bett who has been serving as a commissioner in JSC representing the public appointed by the President with the approval of the National Assembly.
Justice Kihara will effectively fill the position of the AG who is also part of the JSC besides Chief Justice David Maraga (chair), Deputy CJ Philomena Mbete Mwilu, Justice Smokin Wanjala representing the Supreme Court; Justice Mohamed Warsame representing the Court of Appeal; Justice Aggrey Muchelule representing (High Court) and Emily Ominde (magistrate) representing the Kenya Judges and Magistrates Association.
Others are Prof Tom Ojienda for the Law Society of Kenya while Judiciary Chief Registrar Ann Amadi is the Secretary to the Commission.
The nominees to JSC are expected to vetted by Parliament’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee within 14 days.
“Given the critical role played by the JSC, it is advisable that the relevant Committee expeditiously proceeds to notify the nominees and the public, commence the approval hearings after the seven-day notification period, and table a Report on or before Tuesday, February 27, 2018, to enable the House to consider the matter within the statutory timelines,” National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi said.