Lawyers split over tribunal to probe JSC

By  KURIAN MUSA and WINSLEY MASESE

NAIROBI, KENYA: There was mixed reaction among lawyers on whether President Uhuru Kenyatta should form a tribunal to look into the conduct of six members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

Lawyers at a Law Society of Kenya (LSK) event were divided on whether President Kenyatta should set up the tribunal to investigate the commissioners, even as they remained united in faulting JSC for not honouring the parliamentary committee summons

The experts pointed at a constitutional crisis if the President goes ahead to form the tribunal in a debate that circumnavigated on the separation of powers of the three arms of the Government.

Constitutional lawyer and former anti graft boss Patrick Lumumba asked the President not to form a tribunal. He claimed that Parliament had committed contempt of court.

SHARED VIEWS

“It is simple, he will perpetuate the flouting of the law by Parliament,” said Lumumba.

Lumumba shared views of the Commission on the Implementation Constitution (CIC) chair Charles Nyachae in faulting JSC’s resolution not to appear before the parliamentary committee.

Mr Nyachae said: “They had a constitutional obligation under article 125 of the constitution to appear before the House committee that summoned them.”

Nyachae maintained that the JSC ought to have appeared to state whether the issues they were being queried about interfered with the principle of separation of powers.

UNLOCK IMPASSE

Meanwhile, President Kenyatta has convened a meeting with the National Assembly House Speaker Justine Muturi and the Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, in an effort to unlock the impasse between the two bodies.

According to State House Spokesperson, Manoah Esipisu, Mr Muturi and Mr Mutunga are expected to meet and try and strike an amicable relationship. Mr Esipisu however, did not give a substantive date when the meeting will take place.

The meeting, is likely to water down calls byMPs to set up a tribunal to investigate the conduct of six members of the Judicial Service Commission.

The President, according to Esipisu, is expected to have a discussion with House Speaker to urge him to embrace the need for restraint and demonstrate an ability to solve problems.