BY SAM ALFAN.
The High Court has declined to block the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) from using video recordings, social media posts and phone calls linking Justice Said Chitembwe to bribery as a basis for his removal as a judge.
While declined to give orders, Justice Hedwig Ong’udi said the effect of such an order would mean stopping JSC from carrying out its lawful mandate without hearing its side of the story.
“The application is based on an allegation that the petitioner was not given sufficient time to respond. That to me is an issue that JSC is able to deal with. I have therefore not been shown any violation of the law to make this court grant the prayers sought by the petitioner at this point,” Justice Ong’undi said.
Justice Chitembwe lawyers Patrick Ochwa together with Peter Wena had urged the court to grant the orders sought to avoid his petition being rendered nugatory. This is because he is expected to appear before the JSC on Tuesday.
“The JSC listed the four petitions before it for 14 Dec without receiving any or at all response from the petitioner. My lady, the petitioner has a fundamental right to be heard and my lady, that right to be heard includes the petitioner filing a response to the petitions which are pending JSC and also includes the petitioner participating in those proceedings without being ambushed,” they said.
They added that the embattled Judge received the notices on November 25 which gives him 19 days within which to gather the witnesses, contact his advocates and prepare his response and he has four days to adequately prepare for the hearing.
Further, the petitioner is a High Court judge and currently based in North Eastern and some of the issues are based on High Court proceedings that he handled while in Malindi.
The High Court judge said the recordings posted by former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko on social media, were obtained illegally without his knowledge and consent.
The judge says he is apprehensive that the JSC will rely on the audio and video recordings, yet they were obtained by Mr Sonko in contravention of the constitution.
The recordings which were released by Sonko formed the basis of three 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 before the JSC seeking the removal of Justice Chitembwe.
The Judge now says the recordings were private conversations and were obtained without his knowledge and consent.
