BY SAM ALFAN.
The recent appointments of judges of the High Court has proved that hard work pays.
And unlike the previous recruitment, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) went for the young a move that will give the new judges a chance to serve for long in the Judiciary or even rise to the Supreme Court.
In the previous recruitments, the lucky ones would serve for a few years before retiring and without even a chance of moving to a higher court.
That is not the case for the current JSC led by Chief Justice Martha Koome as the commission rewarded even senior principal magistrates who have proved their worth in their previous positions.
Among the 20 judges appointed by President William Ruto as recommended by the JSC are Joe Mkutu, John Lolwatan Tamar and Caroline Kendagor, who was the acting registrar in charge of court-annexed mediation.
From the shortlisted candidates, several senior principal magistrates were among those were interviewed for the jobs.
The appointment of young individuals didn’t also only come from the judiciary only. One of the notable appointment is Judge Andrew Mwamuye from private practice.
JSC seems to have focused on diversity in terms of age, experience, hard work and knowledge from various Justice sectors tapping different areas which show Judiciary tapping Moses Otieno, a manager in charge of prosecution at Kenya Revenue Authority, Rhoda Rutto from the office of controller of budget Director legal services.
From the office of the Director of Public Prosecution, the JSC picked veteran prosecutors Alexander Muteti and Tabitha Ouya.
After interviews several Chief Magistrates were left out including Elizabeth Juma, Stella Atambo, Roseline Oganyo, James Mwaniki, Eunice Nyutu who was Senior Principal Magistrate but promoted to chief magistrate before interviews among others.
Also several Senior Principal Magistrates did not make it to the appointed including Esther Kimilu, Ruth Nabwire, Paul Rotich, Pamela Achieng among other.
This does not say they didn’t perform well as required but the commission seemeds to look for qualities beyond law requirement.
The 20 new appointed judges will now be deployed to various courts and divisions within Judiciary.
