Former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Nelson Havi has issued an ultimatum to all six Supreme Court judges concerning the removal of Martha Koome as Chief Justice.
In a statement on Sunday, January 12, Havi reiterated that the deadline he had issued for CJ Koome to resign was January 14 and urged the other Supreme Court judges to back his calls for her swift resignation.
Failure to do so, he vowed that he would also be filing a petition on Monday, 9 am, calling for their removal.
“The deadline I gave for CJ Martha Koome to resign is 14-1-2025 (January 14). The six other Judges of the Supreme Court can prevail upon her to go,” part of the statement read.
From left to right: Justice Isaac Lenaola, Justice William Ouko, Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, Chief Justice Martha Koome, Justice Mohamed Ibrahim, Justice Njoki Ndung’u and Justice Smokin Wanjala.
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Judiciary Kenya
“If they do not, all seven will have to go. They have until tomorrow at 9:00 am whereafter I will present a petition for their removal to the JSC.”
For months now, Havi alongside other senior counsels relentlessly called for Koome to step out of office citing deep-rooted corruption in the Judiciary.
Besides the supposed corruption, Havi and the others also targeted judges for missing crucial sittings without prior notice or important reasons.
On December 6, 2024, Havi wrote to the Chief Justice complaining about High Court Judge Lawrence Mugambi for only delivering two rulings of the seven required of him.
“Today, Honourable Justice Lawrence Mugambi listed 7 judgments for delivery. Only two were delivered. He said that he was indisposed. He had a bad flu. I told him that the flu could not have lasted for six months since he fixed my matter for delivery of Judgment. He agreed but tendered an alternative plea of the pressure of work. I let it go. No need to challenge a sick Judge,” the lawyer wrote.
In his letter, he also blamed the Chief Justice for assigning unofficial duties to the judges thus having them miss court arbitrarily.
“My Lady, the Chief Justice, the ultimate responsibility for this sorry state of affairs in the Judiciary is you who assigns and/or authorises none judicial duties to judges and magistrates, thereby interrupting scheduled judicial proceedings,” the letter continued.
Despite the onslaught on CJ Koome, however, Havi stated that he had no personal vendetta against her and only opposed the Judiciary’s adherence to the doctrine of decisional independence which he believed fostered corruption among judges and magistrates.
“I have no evidence or claims of corruption or bribery against CJ Koome. My concern is her tolerance for corruption within the judiciary,” he said in a recent interview on Spice FM.
Chief Justice Martha Koome speaking during a JSC interview on March 3, 2021.
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Judicial Service Commission