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 Kenyaportal |
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) of Kenya is an independent Commission established under Article 171 of the Constitution of Kenya. Its mandate as stipulated in Article 172 of the Constitution is to promote and facilitate the independence and accountability of the Judiciary and the efficient, effective and transparent administration of justice. The commission has 11 members with the initial team appointed in December 2010. [1] [2]
The Key functions of the JSC Archived 13 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine are:
Under Article Article 171(1) of the Constitution of Kenya, the Judicial Service Commission consists of the following 11 members:
The Chief Registrar of the Judiciary serves as the Secretary to the JSC.
The current membership of the JSC is as follows: [3]
Hon. Winfridah Boyani Mokaya, Chief Registrar of the Judiciary serves as the Secretary to the Commission.
The first high profile actions carried out by the newly appointed JSC were public interviews for the Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice positions in May 2011. The Commission nominated lawyers Willy Munyoki Mutunga and Nancy Baraza for the positions of Kenya's Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice respectively. [4] The names were forwarded to President Mwai Kibaki, who then submitted them to Parliament after consultation with the Prime Minister Raila Odinga [5] where they were approved.
The Judicial Service Commission, interviewed 25 applicants and in June 2011 nominated 5 Justices to the Supreme Court of Kenya.
In January 2012, the Judicial Service Commission formed a sub-committee to investigate reports [6] that Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Baraza assaulted a security guard at the Village Market shopping mall on 31 December 2011. [7] The JSC subsequently recommended her suspension to President Mwai Kibaki and requested the President to appoint a tribunal to investigate her conduct in line with Article 168 (4) of the Constitution. [8] After her suspension, [9] a commission formed to investigate her conduct recommended her removal from office. [10] On 18 October, she subsequently resigned after withdrawing her supreme court appeal of the tribunal's verdict. [11]
The vacant position of Deputy Chief Justice was advertised by the Commission (JSC) on 9 November 2012. The JSC however re-advertised because it was dissatisfied by the number of applicants. The position subsequently attracted applications from 17 women and one man. [12] Those shortlisted for the position were: [13]
The justices who failed to make the short-list were Roselyn Nambuye, Fatuma Sichale, Fatuma Sichale, Wanjiru Karanja, Grace Wangui Ngenye, Ruth Sitati, Helen Omondi, Hannah Okwengu and Mary Ang'awa. On 22 February 2013, the JSC announced that after completing the interviews it had nominated Court of Appeal Judge Kalpana Rawal. There will however be a longer wait for the next steps in the process as the current parliament completed its term and the next Parliament is to be elected during the March general Election. The new parliament will then form departmental committees including the one on Justice and Legal Affairs which will then vet her suitability for the office. [14]
The Government of the Republic of Kenya (GoK) is the national government of the Republic of Kenya, a federal republic located in East Africa, composed of 47 Counties, each county with its own semi-autonomous governments, including the national capital of Nairobi, where the national government is primarily based.
The Judges' Council is a body in England and Wales that, representing the judiciary, advises the Lord Chief Justice on judicial matters. It has its historical roots in the original Council of the Judges of the Supreme Court, created by the Judicature Act 1873 to oversee the new Supreme Court of Judicature. This body initially met regularly, reforming the procedure used by the circuit courts, and the new High Court of Justice but met less regularly as time went on, meeting only twice between 1900 and 1907, with a gap of ten years between meetings in 1940 and 1950 respectively. After relative inactivity, it was eventually wound up through the Supreme Court Act 1981, which contained no provisions for its continued existence, something Denis Dobson attributes to newer bodies which performed the duties the Council had originally been created to do.
Willy Munyoki Mutunga, EGH is a Kenyan lawyer, intellectual, reform activist, and was the Commonwealth Special Envoy to the Maldives. He is also an active member of the Justice Leadership Group. He is the retired Chief Justice of Kenya and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya.
The High Court of Kenya is a court of unlimited original jurisdiction in criminal and civil matters established under article 165 of the constitution of Kenya as part of the Kenya Judiciary. It also has supervisory jurisdiction over all other subordinate courts and any other persons, body or authority exercising a judicial or quasi-judicial function. It was known as the Supreme Court of Kenya until 1964 and its name has remain unchanged since then.
Dr. Nancy Makokha Baraza is a former Kenyan judge. She was the first Deputy Chief Justice of Kenya and a member of Kenya's first supreme court after the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution. She served in the court from June 2011 to her suspension in January 2012 and resigned on 18 October 2012. She was appointed to the Kenya Law Reform Commission in 2008 for a term of three years, serving as a vice chairperson until her appointment as deputy CJ. In early 2010, she was elected chairperson of the Media Council of Kenya’s Ethics and Complaints Commission.
The Baraza-Kerubo Village Market incident refers to an incident between the then Kenyan Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Makokha Baraza and Rebecca Kerubo who worked as a guard at the Village Market shopping mall in Nairobi. The incident led to the suspension and subsequent resignation of the Deputy Chief justice after less than one year in office. The village market saga was condemned by many and termed unethical after Nancy Baraza withdrew a gun on the female guard.
The Supreme Court of Kenya is the highest court in Kenya. It is established under Article 163 of the Kenyan Constitution. As the highest court in the nation, its decisions are binding and set precedent on all other courts in the country.
The Court of Appeal of Kenya is established under Article 164 of the constitution of Kenya and consists of a number of judges, being not fewer than twelve.
The chief justice of Kenya is a public office in the Republic of Kenya established under Article 161 of the country's Constitution as the head of the Judiciary of Kenya. Under Article 163, the chief justice also serves as the president of the Supreme Court of Kenya. The chief justice is assisted by the deputy chief justice, who also serves as the deputy president of the Supreme Court.
The Deputy Chief Justice of Kenya is the deputy to the Chief Justice of Kenya and Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Kenya. The office is established under Article 163 of the Kenyan Constitution. The current Deputy Chief Justice is Lady Justice Philomena Mwilu. The office remained vacant from October 12, 2012 following the resignation of Nancy Makokha Baraza Court of Appeal Judge Kalpana Rawal was nominated by the JSC to fill the position. Judge Kalpana Rawal was the retired by the Supreme Court of Kenya after a case on retirement age was dismissed at the Supreme Court of Kenya on 14 June 2016.
Jackton Boma Ojwang is a Kenyan lawyer and a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya. Upon retiring from the Supreme Court, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed him as chairperson of the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA).
Mohamed Khadhar Ibrahim is a Kenyan lawyer and a justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya.
Smokin Wanjala is a Kenyan lawyer and a justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya. He holds a Ph.D. in law from the University of Ghent, Belgium. He also holds a Master of Laws degree from the Columbia University in the United States and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Nairobi. Wanjala lectured at the University of Nairobi for 15 years, teaching international law, international human rights law, land law and criminal law.
The Judiciary of Kenya is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in Kenya. After the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya in 2010, the general public, through parliament, sought to reform the judiciary. Parliament passed the Magistrates and Judges Vetting Act of 2011. A major part of reforming the judiciary was the vetting of Magistrates and Judges in an attempt to weed out unsuitable ones. The Judicature Act has also been amended to raise the minimum number of Magistrates and Judges allowing more judicial officers to be hired. More magistrates and judges are needed to clear the backlog of cases that have caused great delay in the conclusion of cases and to staff new courts. New courts are needed to bring the courts closer to the people which is in line with devolution, a major principle written into the Constitution of 2010. New courts like the High Court opened in Garissa in November 2014 is a good example. In the past residents of North Eastern Kenya had to go all the way to Embu to access a High Court.
Kalpana Hasmukhrai Rawal is a Kenyan-Asian lawyer and the former Deputy Chief Justice and Vice President of the Supreme Court of Kenya. She was sworn in on June 3, 2013 as the Deputy Chief Justice of Kenya in a ceremony presided over by the President of Kenya and the Chief Justice. After a protracted case on the question of the retirement age of Judges who were appointed under the old Constitution of Kenya, the Supreme Court delivered a Ruling which effectively set the retirement age at 70 years, sending the Deputy Chief Justice and one other Supreme Court Judge who had reached 70 on retirement.
David Kenani Maraga is a Kenyan lawyer and jurist. He was the 14th Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya from October 2016 until his retirement in January 2021.
Mandisa Muriel Lindelwa Maya is the Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa. She was formerly the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2017 to 2022. She joined the bench in May 2000 as a judge of the Transkei Division of the High Court of South Africa and was elevated to the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2006.
Philomena Mbete Mwilu is a Kenyan lawyer and judge, who has served as the Deputy Chief Justice of Kenya and Vice President of the Supreme Court of Kenya since 28 October 2016. Following the retirement of Chief Justice David Maraga, and before Martha Koome was appointed as the Chief Justice, she served as Acting Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya from 11 January 2021 to 19 May 2021, making her the first woman to hold that office.
Justice William Ouko is a Kenyan lawyer and Judge with a wealth of experience in judicial and administrative service spanning over 34 years. He is currently serving as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Kenya. He was nominated by the Judicial Service Commission for the seat of a Judge of the Supreme Court on 5 May 2021. On 14 May 2021, he was appointed to the position by the President of the Republic of Kenya H.E Uhuru Kenyatta, CGH and was subsequently sworn in on 21 May 2021. He served as the President of the Court of Appeal of Kenya prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court, a position to which he was elected on 9 March 2018.
Martha Karambu Koome is a Kenyan advocate who is currently serving as the Chief Justice of Kenya, and is the first woman to occupy the post.
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