Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court Martha Koome.
Four former presidents of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) on Friday, December 20 called for the resignation of Chief Justice Martha Koome, alleging rampant corruption in the Judiciary that they said has hindered access to justice for millions of Kenyans and violated the rule of law.
The four—Dr Gibson Kamau Kuria, Paul Muite, Ahmednasir Abdullahi and Nelson Havi—said the country was slowly sliding into anarchy with a number of Kenyans being evicted from their homes through fake court orders that are purportedly issued by judges.
Dr Kuria, Mr Muite and Mr Abdullahi are members of the exclusive Senior Counsel club, a title conferred by the President after a peer-reviewed nomination process.
Mr Muite signed the official statement but was not present during the press conference in Nairobi.
“We have reached a point in this country where there is no longer the rule of law but we have the rule of money. People are buying court orders from the judges and this is slowly being normalised in our society. As advocates, we reject this and urge all Kenyans to join us in advocating for better governance,” Dr Kuria said.
Dr Kuria recounted several alleged incidents where his clients have been forced to seek redress over flawed judgements and rulings issued by the courts.
“The clients of the advocates are crying foul regarding these rulings and we have had cases where they tell us that judges approached them directly or through their proxies. Is this the way to uphold the rule of law and constitutionalism in the country,” Dr Kuria said.
The senior advocates also raised concern that the issue is rampant in cases involving land tussles with legal home owners being evicted.
Dr Kuria said he was appalled last month when people showed up at his door seeking to evict him from his property.
“We are greatly troubled by numerous decisions where judicial officers have through corruption or incompetence delivered judgments and made rulings whose effect is to put in question of the very purpose of a title deed or certificate of title or any other form of ownership document. We have been horrified to see courts upholding as valid, forged documents and assisting crooks to take away other peoples properties, the logic of all this is clear. This legitimisation has taken place after High Court judges and lower court magistrates have dishonestly refused to apply the law as stated by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, ” Dr Kuria who read the statement on behalf of the advocates said.
Senior Counsel Ahmednassir Abdullahi rejected any calls by Chief Justice Martha Koome who had invited them to a meeting to discuss the issues that they have raised.
“The JSC has become a club to protect the judges. We make complaints but once we have made these complaints Chief Justice Martha Koome says that the decisions judges are making are independent. I cannot attend any meetings with her. This is even after the judge has said a wrong ruling that violates the law. For how long is this going to continue?” Mr Abdullahi said.
CJ Koome had last week called Mr Abdullahi to a meeting that also had the LSK, after Prof PLO Lumumba requested a meeting to ‘share his concerns and discuss ways and means of redeeming the image and integrity of the judiciary’.
“In response to Prof PLO Lumumba’s request for an audience and in a bid to develop a comprehensive roadmap to address these persistent allegations and further safeguard the integrity of the Judiciary, I have accepted and convened a consultative meeting to comprehensively discuss concerns on integrity within the Judiciary and attendant integrity within the legal profession,” said the CJ.
The CJ also directed the Secretary of the JSC to deploy an investigative team to engage with Mr Abdullahi, with a view to obtaining more information on allegations of corruption against judges, which he posted on his social media platform X.
She said the commission would continuously inform the public on the progress made while providing monthly updates on the status of complaints before the JSC.
Justice Koome further forwarded Prof Lumumba’s letter to the Director General of the National Intelligence Service, the Inspector General of Police, the Director of Criminal Investigations and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) “for in-depth investigations to enable the Judicial Service Commission to proceed as required by the Constitution and the law”.
The CJ noted that a total of 141 petitions were received touching on the conduct of judges out of which 70 petitions were concluded during the 2023/2024 financial year.
She added that seven complaints touching on judicial officers were processed and three of the complaints were concluded.
“The Commission also registered 116 disciplinary cases against staff, the most common of which was absence from duty at 58 complaints. Eleven complaints touched on soliciting and receiving a bribe. Out of these cases, 51 have been concluded,” she said.
On December 9, Chief Justice Martha Koome agreed to a meeting with Prof PLO Lumumba over alleged incidents of corruption at the Judiciary.
Others invited to the meeting include LSK president Faith Odhiambo, a representative of the senior counsel bar, heads of courts and members of the JSC to the talks.
The meeting was also expected to discuss ways and means of redeeming the image and integrity of the Judiciary which has been on a downward trajectory following complaints and criticisms online.
Mr Havi gave notice to corrupt judicial officers urging them to resign from their places of work since the fight against corruption in the judiciary will be vicious in 2024.
“You have only eleven days to the end of 2024 to quit. We cannot allow this to continue and we are going to announce the next course of action as advocates. We are here speaking as senior advocates and we are going through this. What of the little-known advocates who are out there? What type of suffering are they going through in the corridors of justice,” Mr Havi said.
The advocates are now calling upon Kenyans to collect evidence of any injustices in the courts and submit the same to the Law Society of Kenya where it will be kept in a ‘data bank’.
They also said they would not be taking the evidence to the Judicial Service Commission for lack of faith in the institution.
“We are calling upon advocates and members of the public to send to the President of the Law Society their experiences in the Wheels of justice, if any, and all the evidence of wrongdoing, be it incompetence or corruption which are available under both Article 251 of the Constitution and the Advocates Act. The Law Society will establish a data bank that will be used to clean up the organs of justice in our republic. We shall not allow our nation to go under as has happened in less happy countries of Africa,” the advocates said.
