Chief Justice David Maraga has now said that Executive Order No. 1 of 2020 which was issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta has no effect on the Judiciary and the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) as both are independent of the Executive.
The order, issued Wednesday evening and dated May 11, 2020 is titled ‘The Organisation of Government’ and regularises changes in government.
On Thursday morning, CJ Maraga issued a statement regarding the order, which authorises the President to direct and coordinate the functions of ministries and government departments.
INDEPENDENT COMMISSIONS
“The order cannot “restructure” or “assign functions” to other co-equal and co-substantial arms of government and independent commissions,” Mr Maraga said in his statement.
He said the Judiciary is neither a ministry nor a government department to be subjected to an executive order.
He added that such an order cannot restructure or assign functions to the JSC or its chairman.
“It is therefore obvious that the Order only applies to and is, indeed, only capable of applying to the executive arm of government,” said the CJ.
Mr Maraga called on the Office of the President to “promptly issue a correction” on what he termed as an inadvertent error.