This archive report was first published on 15 May 2020.
On May 15, 2020, High Court Judge Weldon Korir delivered a ruling that spared three Supreme Court judges from facing allegations of gross misconduct.
The judges, Justices Mohammed Ibrahim, Jackton Ojwang', and Njoki Ndung'u, had been under scrutiny since 2016 after a complaint of gross misconduct was levelled against them.
Justice Korir ruled that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) had no authority to discipline the judges, and therefore, its decision to admonish them was unlawful.
The JSC had found that the judges had committed misconduct by suspending the Court of Appeal's verdict concerning the retirement age of former Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and suspended retired judge Phillip Tunoi.
However, Justice Korir pointed out that the misconduct was not defined as gross, and therefore, it was not a ground for their removal as determined by the commission.
Justice Ndung'u had also argued that there was a lack of clarity on what judges, judicial officers, and Judiciary staff facing allegations of misconduct could expect during the process.
While the commission said that the regulations in this regard were stuck in the National Assembly, the judge declined to compel JSC to make those laws within three months, citing that the court cannot compel it to do something that is in the hands of another state organ.
