Top lawyers pile pressure on apex court leadership to resign

A vicious onslaught is ongoing at the Judiciary with calls for the current Supreme Court bench to resign following allegations of malpractice.

Some senior lawyers of the bar in recent times have turned the heat on Chief Justice Martha Koome, her Supreme Court bench and members of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) over claims of incompetence and dereliction of duty.

Former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) president Nelson Havi has now given the embattled Supreme Court president an ultimatum of 48 hours to call it quits.

“The deadline I gave for CJ Martha Koome to resign is Tuesday, 14 January, 2025.The six other Judges of the Supreme Court can prevail upon her to go. If they do not, all seven will have to go,”Havi posted on his X account.

The outspoken Counsel has been one of the fiercest critics of the administration and leadership of Martha Koome, who assumed office as the 15th Chief Justice of Kenya in May, 2021.

There have been widespread allegations of graft in the courts with Koome being accused of failing to nip the vice in the bud under her tenure.

 Havi has threatened to file a petition tomorrow calling for the removal from office of the judges of Kenya’s top court.

The maverick city lawyer has been on the faces of the judiciary whom he has accused of failure to provide justice and serve as per the constitution.

Alongside the other critic in Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi who has almost taken the role of a rebel, the courts have faced perhaps one of the most trying moments in recent times.

However CJ Koome has remained firm accusing the complainants of mudslinging and maligning the characters of the Judiciary. She has vowed to stay put even as she states that work in the courts is ongoing unabated and will not be cowed from delivering her mandate as per the law.

Havi who is also a Governance commentator has taken to social media and TV stations to voice frustrations with the Judiciary accusing the body of being complicit in bad behavior.

On Dec 6,2024 he took on High Court Judge Lawrence Mugambi for delivering a paltry two judgements as opposed to seven as per the cause list.

He wrote to CJ Koome in protest about the situation.

In his letter, he also blamed the Chief Justice for assigning unofficial duties to the judges thus having them miss court arbitrarily.

“My Lady, the Chief Justice, the ultimate responsibility for this sorry state of affairs in the Judiciary is you who assigns and/or authorizes non-judicial duties to judges and magistrates, thereby interrupting scheduled judicial proceedings,” he stated.

Havi has suggested he had no personal or ill feelings towards the bench or Chief Justice Martha Koome adding in fact he had no instant evidence of graft on the person CJ of Koome.