The straight shooting Court of Appeal Judge Justice Martha Koome is poised to be the next Chief Justice after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has unanimously nominate her to succeed David Maraga.
JSC chairperson professor Olive Mugenda has said the commission has sent her name to President Uhuru Kenyatta for appointment.
If her nomination sails through, she will subsequently face the National Assembly for public vetting exercise.
If appointed, Justice Koome will become the first female president of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kenya.
“After lengthy deliberations and careful considerations of the performance of the various candidates, the JSC has unanimously recommended the appointment of honourable Lady Justice Martha Koome, judge of the Court of Appeal as the Chief Justice of Kenya and has submitted her name to the President of Kenya for appointment,” Professor Mugenda said during a media briefing at Supreme Court buildings.
“Our duty was to select the best candidate and that’s what we have done,” Prof Olive Mugenda, who chaired the selection interviews, said on why the JSC will not release the scores for each candidate.
JSC did not disclose marks scored by Koome or the nine other candidates who were interviewed for the post.
Besides Koome, others interviewed for the CJ post include;President of the Court of Appeal William Ouko, High Court Judge Said Chitembwe and Employment and Labour Relations Judges Mathews Nduma Nderi and Njagi Marete.
Senior Counsel Philip Murgor, Senior Counsel Fred Ngatia and Patricia Mbote, Professor Wekesa Moni and Alice Yano were also vetted.