The Judicial Service Commission has recommended the removal of Justice Jackton Ojwang as a judge of the Supreme Court.
JSC has also ordered that Chief Justice David Maraga, judges Mohamed Ibrahim, Smokin Wanjala and Njoki Ndungu be served with petitions seeking their removal on several grounds.
The petition against the CJ was filed by Yusuf Ibrahim Dimbil, while that against the other judges and which also indicts Justice Ojwang over gross misconduct, misbehaviour, incompetence and breach of the constitution and oath of office as grounds for their removal has been made by Mohamed Mohamud Sheikh.
“Having considered the same, the commission directed that the concerned judges be served with the petitions and they were given 14 days within which to file their response to the same, ” read a statement by the JSC after its meeting at the Supreme Court building on March 19th.
At the same time, the JSC has given the green light for nine of the 17 petitions that had been filed against Court if Appeal and High Court judges to proceed to full hearing, dismissing the other right for lack of merit.
The decision to recommend the removal of Justice Ojwang followed consideration of a report by the committee that had been set up to hear a petition by Nelson Oduor Onyango and eight others.
“The petition detailed instances which the petitioners believed constituted grounds of misconduct, impropriety, conflict of interest and breach of judicial code of conduct on the part of the Hon Judge,” read the JSC statement.
The petitioners submitted that Justice Ojwang should have disqualified himself from hearing an application in Supreme Court miscellaneous application no. 49 of 2014 because of his close association with the county of Migori and it’s governor, Okoth Obado.
JSC revealed that Justice Ojwang “regrettably refused to attend the hearing.”
“Upon presentation of the report by the committee, the full commission deliberated on the same at great length and found that the petition had disclosed sufficient ground to warrant a recommendation to the president to set up a tribunal for the removal of […] Justice Ojwang and according adopted it.
“The CJ will in the course of the send the petition to the president.”
