This archive report was first published on 25 July 2021.
On July 22, 2021, law enforcement officers arrested two High Court judges, Aggrey Muchelule and Said Chitembwe, and searched their chambers in connection with an ongoing investigation into a Judiciary scandal.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has condemned the arrest, accusing the Executive of intimidation tactics and undermining the independence of the Judiciary.
According to the LSK, the judges were questioned and released without being charged, and no evidence of a bribe was found during the search of their chambers.
LSK President Nelson Havi stated, "The never-ending assault by the Executive aimed at clawing back on gains made on the independence of the Judiciary has manifested itself again in an ugly way, today."
Justice Muchelule was one of the judges left out by President Uhuru Kenyatta when he appointed 34 new judges to the Court of Appeal, High Court, and other lower courts.
LSK deprecates the conduct of the DCI and urges the Executive to give an apology for the unjustified and unwarranted conduct.
Reactions to the arrest have also come from prominent lawyers, including Ahmednasir Abdullahi, who remarked, "Two judges were arrested by a police SWAT team... 8 hours later, the CJ @CJMarthaKoome, the DCJ Lady Mwilu, the Judicial Service Commission @jsckenya and the Chief Registrar of the judiciary @Kenyajudiciary are ALL TOO SCARED to even comment!"
