By Thomas Kariuki
Raphael Tuju, former Cabinet Secretary, has filed a damning dossier at the anti-corruption agency alleging that five Supreme Court Judges are involved in judicial malpractices.
The former CS did not reveal details of the evidence that he presented to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission saying that making some of the matters public would scandalize the five judges involved in his petition to the Judiciary Service Commission (JSC).
“I have spoken about the communications with the Chief justice among many more. It is fair that I do not share that with the press to scandalize people maliciously,” Tuju said.
Ex- CS Tuju has earlier penned an open letter to the Chief Justice Martha Koome, accusing the five apex court judges of being biased and irresponsible in handling key cases.
Speaking outside Integrity Centre that plays host to the EACC, Tuju said he also received endless complaints from various Kenyans which he incorporated in his dossier that he presented to the EACC for further investigations.
According to the former CS, he decided to take further action by presenting the evidence to the ant-graft commission because the judges he is accusing obtained court orders blocking JSC from investigating the issues raised.
“All I am saying is JSC wrote to the judges accused and they chose to go to court instead of replying. JSC cannot proceed with the petition because the judges moved to court,” he stated.
The five judges were to just defend themselves before the commission and present their case and he wondered why they rushed to file a petition before their juniors to block the probe, Tuju said.
He has also denied that his petition to the JSC does not seek for removal of the judges saying it is a petition accusing them of being biased and lacking impartiality.
This comes a day after CJ Martha Koome unveiled an Anti-Corruption Strategic Guiding Framework for the Kenya’s justice sector that is aimed at fostering a robust, transparent, and accountable justice system that proactively addresses the multifaceted challenges posed by corruption.
CJ Koome emphasized that the framework will equip Justice Sector Agencies with a clear roadmap of well-defined interventions, spanning short-term, mid-term, and long-term efforts in the fight against corruption.
Tuju who is alleging mistreatment says that he never asked JSC to remove the judges. “I also never asked them to recuse themselves from my case with the bank. The evidence was already before them when they decided to recuse themselves and later after the recuse, they still ruled in favour of the bank.”
The case before them had collapsed because the affidavit before them had been recanted. Hence their ‘clever’ move to recuse themselves. They moved to court and now JSC cannot do its work,” he lamented.
Tuju refuted claims of being political with his petition to JSC saying he decided to go public with his letter after the petition before JSC stalled citing judicial frustrations.
“It’s about the right to be heard. That’s why I have never disclosed details of my case at the JSC-because it is not the appropriate forum for discussing these issues. But they don’t want to go before the JSC,” Tuju said.
