President Uhuru Kenyatta has appointed 34 Judges out of the 40 forwarded by the Judicial Service.
It has taken close to 2 years for the president to make the appointments that were presented to him during Chief Justice David Maraga’s tenure.
Notably, the president has left out two judges who nullified the BBI bill over what has been termed as ‘questionable characters’.
Justice Joel Ngugi was the judge who led the team which cut short the BBI train, and George Odunga was part of the 5-judge bench.
The other judges who have been left out of President Uhuru’s list include;
1. WELDON KORIR
2. AGGREY MUCHELULE
3. EVANS MAKORI
4. ELIZABETH OMANGE
The Judiciary had recommended 41 judges but one of them passed on.
The appointment of the 36 is contrary to the legal requirements of such appointments, where Uhuru is required to appoint all of them.
“The constitution does not donate any mandate to the president to perform any other act upon receiving the names recommended by the JSC except to appoint them,” former chief justice David Maraga said while complaining over Uhuru’s failure to appoint list of judges forwarded to him.
However, through Attorney General, the president had questioned the integrity of some judges, but the court ruled in their favor twice.
When David Maraga was leaving office, he described president Uhuru as a ‘stubborn leader who does not heed to court orders.
“You know I have respect for you as our President, you also know that I have unsuccessfully sought an appointment with you to sort out these issues but it has been futile leaving me with no option but to make this public,” Maraga said.
He termed Uhuru’s disregard of court orders as unconstitutional.
“I must remind you that you swore to defend the constitution and the laws of Kenya. The laws include court orders. Demonstrate that faith and respect the rule of law and comply with court orders.”
The appointments came at a time when President Uhuru is at loggerheads with the judiciary over the nullification of BBI.
During Madaraka Day celebrations in Kisumu, Uhuru said that the judiciary was coming in the way of the power of the people through nullification of the BBI report as well as the annulment of the 2017 election.
This attracted uproar against Uhuru, who was accused of constantly disobeying court orders.
Uhuru was criticised for failing to appoint the 41 judges and also transferring the Kenya Meat commission to the Ministry of defence despite a court order baring him.
