Koome: Judges saved Kenya from a crisis in 2017 elections

Martha Koome when she appeared before the Judicial Service Commission to interview for the position of Chief Justice at the Supreme Court buildings, yesterday. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

Court of Appeal Judge Martha Koome has explained why a three-judge bench issued an order suspending a High Court ruling on the eve of Kenya’s repeat election.

High Court Judge George Odunga had declared that all the 271 returning officers and their deputies were illegally appointed just a day before the 2017 repeat presidential election.

However, hours after he had delivered the judgement in favour of activist Khelef Khalifa, Court of Appeal judges who included Koome, Fatuma Sichale and Erastus Githinji suspended the order and the elections went on.

However, the decision stoked a complaint by Khalifa, who accused the three of, among other things, issuing the ruling without giving him a chance to reply. He also claimed that they sat to hear the matter after the designated office hours.

While being interviewed for the post of Chief Justice by the Judicial Service Commission yesterday, Justice Koome explained that she was informed by the Court of Appeal registrar that the then president of that court, Justice Paul Kihara, and who is the current Attorney General, had constituted a bench of the three and had certified the appeal as urgent.

“The day before that election was a public holiday. I was called by the registrar of the court, a Mr Serem, and told that the president had certified the matter urgent and had constituted a bench of Sichale, Githinji and myself to hear it,” she narrated.

The judge said they were in agreement that there would have been a Constitutional crisis if the court had not intervened.

She was hard-pressed to explain why they did not indicate that they had asked where Khalifa’s lawyer was.

“This was an ex parte matter, from what we understood. Together with the presiding judge Justice Githinji, we discussed the matter and our jurisdiction before we issued an interim order,” she explained, adding that she was answerable to Justice Kihara who had directed that the appeal be heard the same day and outside the working hours.

On matrimonial property, the former Fida chair explained that getting married to a wealthy man or woman was not a certificate to wealth. 

“If I got married today and I have some property, my spouse is not entitled to it. And if I got married and my husband has some property, I am not entitled to it because that is his property,” she said.?

She is known for women’s and children’s rights. Her former client Priscila Echaria set the benchmark for matrimonial property rights.

“I am an all-rounder but what pricked my conscience is the abuse of women and children’s rights. If there is no peace at home, you cannot thrive anywhere. Children’s rights were scattered in 17 statutes. Today, we have the 2010 Constitution but children’s rights have not been reviewed to be in line with the Constitution,” she continued. 

The judge is an insider, having risen from a magistrate to a Court of Appeal judge. She has been in the Judiciary for 18 years now. According to her, human capital and funding will be among the issues she expects to encounter if she succeeds former Chief Justice David Maraga.