A three-judge bench has been appointed to hear high-stakes petitions challenging the removal of Chief Justice Martha Koome and several Supreme Court judges from office, amid mounting legal and constitutional questions surrounding the process.
The bench, comprising Justices Charles Kariuki, Lawrence Mugambi, and Bahati Mwamuye, was constituted following a High Court ruling that the case raises weighty legal issues that warrant determination by a multi-judge panel.
The development follows a petition filed by Chief Justice Koome — who also serves as the President of the Supreme Court — alongside Justices Njoki Ndung’u, Isaac Lenaola, William Ouko, and Smokin Wanjala.
The judges moved to court to challenge the Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) handling of petitions seeking their removal.
In an earlier decision, the High Court temporarily suspended the JSC’s proceedings related to the judges’ removal, pending the determination of the petitions filed before it.
Lawyers representing the petitioners argued that the integrity of the process was at stake. Prominent lawyer Nelson Havi strongly criticized Chief Justice Koome’s involvement in the administrative process of bench selection, given that she is one of the petitioners in the case.
Havi said her role posed a conflict of interest that could compromise public confidence in the outcome. “A party to a case cannot participate in appointing judges to hear their own matter,” he argued.
The case is expected to test the limits of judicial independence, the role of the JSC, and the safeguards surrounding the removal of judges in Kenya’s constitutional democracy.
