Njoki Ndungu’s surprise request to the Judiciary

dennis kibet

November 1, 2017 7:15 AM

In a new twist, Justice Ndungu made a surprise request to the Judiciary.

Supreme Court Judge Njoki Ndungu has made a surprise request to the Judiciary.

Justice Ndungu made an application to the court asking them to cross-examine former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga in a case seeking to restrain the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) from investigating her over gross misconduct.

Through her lawyer Andrew Musangi, Ndungu wants Mutunga cross-examined in relation to affidavits he swore in support of the JSC’s case which claimed that she and Justice Jackton Ojwang went on a go-slow, crippling the operations of Supreme Court in 2015.

Ndungu wants JSC's decision to interrogate her to be thrown out saying it was only a sideshow and wants the case to be heard, strictly based on merit.

“It goes without saying that the former CJ should take the witness stand if this court directs that my client be interrogated on the minutes of the Supreme Court over the disputed go-slow,” Musangi said.

According to The Star, it is alleged that the strike was to protest the decision of the JSC to retire the then Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and Philip Tunoi upon attaining the age of 70.

Mutunga swore an affidavit in support of lawyer Apollo Mboya’s petition, accusing Ndung’u and her counterpart Ojwang of going on strike, and crippling the court’s operations for close to two weeks.

In the affidavit, Mutunga denied the decision to go on strike in 2015 was a collective one.

Last year, the then Law Society of Kenya (LSK) chief executive officer Apollo Mboya accused Ndungu of misconduct over the matter and petitioned for her removal of office and make the judge “reimburse taxpayers a quantifiable remuneration and benefits drawn during this period in which they engaged in unconstitutional and illegal industrial action through a self-imposed moratorium on all judicial operations”.

dennis kibet