Ahmednassir: Maraga achieved little as CJ

Immediate former Chief Justice David Maraga at a past press conference. [File, Standard]

City lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi has dismissed immediate former Chief Justice David Maraga’s claims that he transformed the Judiciary.

Speaking to KTN News on Thursday night, Ahmednassir said contrary to praises being heaped on the former CJ, he achieved very little during his tenure.

The lawyer was reacting to Maraga’s remarks that during his time in office, he improved the court system’s infrastructure and digitised the courts despite limited resources from the Executive.

However, Ahmednassir said the infrastructure Maraga is talking about was the work of his predecessor Willy Mutunga after he secured funding from the World Bank.

“I served as a member of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and I can tell you these courts Maraga was opening here and there for show-off were Mutunga’s projects,” he said.

The lawyer also dismissed as untrue claims that Maraga digitised the courts, saying there was nothing digital about Kenyan courts.

“Maraga achieved very little, the courts have not been digitised. There is nothing technological about Kenyan courts.”

Presidential petition

On the nullification of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s election in 2017 by the Maraga-led Supreme Court, Ahmednassir hit out at the ex-CJ as a drama queen who nullified the election for show-off.

The former JSC member said the decision by the court to annul the election was political and not based on the evidence that was adduced in court, adding that President Uhuru had over 1.5 million votes against the petitioner (Raila Odinga).

“He was a drama queen and annulled the election to be seen by the world as the best CJ in Africa.”

Ahmednassir who represented President Uhuru in the presidential petition said the Supreme Court’s ruling had very little impact on the jurisprudence.

Maraga had earlier said they had no other otherwise but to void the results after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) refused to open the servers.

“Some of the claims made during the hearing were not making sense, like when they said there was an internet problem in parts of Nairobi and Kiambu here. We believed the law was not followed,” Maraga had said.

Fights with Executive

The lawyer also blamed Maraga for the reduction of funding to the Judiciary for his failure to build rapport with the Executive without compromising the independence of Judiciary.

“I remember when Mutunga took over, the funding was about Sh3 billion, he went to President Kibaki and the funding was raised, by the time he left it was about Sh17 billion,” said.

“The funding was on the rise during Mutunga until he (Maraga) came in and started the fight with the executive.”

On claims by Maraga that the government was disobeying the court orders, the lawyer blamed the courts for failing to jail those who have disobeyed the court orders irrespective of their status.

“It is the court that has refused to jail the contemnors it is the court under Maraga that lacks the backbone to jail these people who have disobeyed the law,” he said.

He also blamed Maraga for doing very little to fight corruption in the Judiciary.

Maraga served as Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya from October 2016 till his retirement last week.

Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu took over as Chief Justice in an acting capacity until a substantive CJ will be named.