BY SAM ALFAN.
High Court judge Said Chitembwe wants the JSC stopped from commencing the process for his removal.
The JSC wants to use the video provided by former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko to recommend to President Uhuru Kenyatta that he be removed from office.
However, justice Chitembwe says the evidence was illegally obtained and against his consent, hence should not be admitted.
“The petitioner(Chitembwe) is aggrieved that the petitions for his removal from office and the proceedings by the 6th respondent (JSC) under Article 168(1) & (2) of the constitution are based on the petitioner’s private conversations obtained without his consent and in violation of his rights to privacy,” he said in a statement, adding that the proceedings are therefore on the basis of illegally obtained evidence.
The recordings which were released by Mr Sonko formed the basis of two petitions filed seeking for the removal of the Judge, one of them initiated by the judges’ employer acting on its own motion. There are a total of four petitions, filed seeking the removal of Justice Chitembwe.
The Judge now says the recordings were private conversations and obtained without his knowledge and consent.
The JSC has already written to Justice Chitembwe, giving him 14 days to respond to the allegations. He is required to appear before the Commission on December 14.
But the Judge has faulted the JSC for directing him to appear for hearing of all the four petitions, on a single day and giving him 19 days to prepare his responses.
In one of the petitions, the Judge is accused of advising Sonko that the judgement, which upheld his removal as the Nairobi governor, should be set aside because there was coercion, bribery and fraud.
Justice Chitembwe was also accused of misconduct for discussing a matter pending before him, with third parties and rendering judgements based on other influences including bribery.
