Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi has claimed that Chief Justice Martha Koome is oblivious to the happenings at the Judiciary, including the alleged corruption deals. Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi (l). CJ Martha Koome in Turkana county during the launch of e-filing system (r). Ahmednasir asserted that CJ Koome runs the Judiciary through a 42-page document, the Social Transformation through Access to Justice, in which 30 pages include photographs, and the remaining pages do not clearly state her agenda. “The chief justice has no idea what problem is facing the Judiciary. If you go to Honourable CJ Martha Koome and ask her what the problems are, she will tell you there are no problems because she is oblivious to what is happening in the Judiciary, to the corruption in all courts, whether it is the Supreme Court or Court of Appeal,” he claimed. “She comes to the office with a document on Social Transformation through Access to Justice, a 42-page document with 30 pages of photographs. You cannot run the judiciary of this republic with all the problems it faces using a 10-page document. The 10-page mean nothing actually. It just shows that she doesn’t understand the problems. I wish her the best, but she cannot do this job,” he went on. Speaking to NTV on Thursday, January 4, Ahmednasir further accused the Judicial Service Commission of failure since the CJ took office because of her alleged inability to understand the corners of the institution. “If you have a chief justice who has no idea about what is happening in the Judiciary, then how can such an important institution work? The JSC during her term has completely failed. The disciplinary mechanism in the judiciary has failed,” he alleged. According to Ahmednasir, the level of corruption under the tenure of CJ Koome has heightened and surpassed previous graphs, including the late President Daniel Moi’s regime, where corruption was purportedly high. “I have never seen the level of corruption like this in my 31 years of practising law. Even Moi’s time was not this bad. We thought it was a problem with the judges, but a number of them were employed. It does not help. Why? Because the system is not working for Kenyans,” added Ahmednasir. I have your back, CJ Koome tells judges They strongly defended the independence of the Judiciary following an onslaught by President William Ruto and his allies. She noted that the judges were being subjected to unwarranted scrutiny for issuing court orders. However, she urged them to continue delivering judgements without fear or favour. “The JSC has therefore noted with concern that honourable judges and judicial officers have been subjected to public criticism and vilification for issuing court orders that are perceived to be against state programmes and policies,” she stated. “The Judiciary should live up to the constitutional edict, in Article 160(1), that safeguards the exercise of judicial authority,” she added.
by Nancy Odindo
