A petition seeking to remove Chief Justice Willy Mutunga from office has divided the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in the middle with its chairman Eric Mutua and senior counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi terming it an “exercise in futility.”
Mutua and Ahmednasir said they are not part of the move by Mombasa LSK members to collect signatures to remove Mutunga from office.
Speaking on the sidelines of Judges conference in Mombasa yesterday, Mutua said the LSK head office was not involved in the petition and the complaints raised by Mombasa branch are ill-advised.
He said the petition had not followed the correct procedure and there is a danger of it being hijacked by people who do not want the independence of the Judiciary when taken to Parliament. Mutua said the claims against the CJ’s alleged discrimination against Coast region on deployment of judges and magistrates are far-fetched.
“We do not support the petition because as the head office we were not given any official communications on the issues of collecting signatures to remove Mutunga and the Judicial Service Commission from office,” he added.
Ahmednasir said Mombasa lawyers were mis-advised on the procedure to remove the CJ or disband JSC. Meanwhile, some Mombasa political leaders have expressed support for CJ for taking the Judiciary to the grassroots as required by the JSC Act, saying the move will effectively deal with huge cases backlog in the country.
Mutunga said these are plans mooted by his office and which are some of the reforms to ensure Kenyans access justice in the rural areas with ought strains.
Speaking at Junda in Mombasa county during the official opening of Bedzimba Primary School, Governor Hassan Joho and Kisauni MP Rashid Bedzimba praised the creation of judicial outposts, saying the move is a welcome gesture coming at the height of worrying cases backlog in courts.
Bedzimba said that the move was welcome as many persons were wasting away in remand owing to cases back log occasioned by overload among the few Judges and Magistrates in Courts.
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