Top Court Repudiates Kenyatta, Asserts Independence: Kenya
Kenya's highest court has delivered a decision that strongly defends the independence of the judiciary and, by extension, the independence of the mechanism by which judges are chosen, the Judicial Service Commission.
In 2018, he prompted another such conflict in relation to the appointment of a senior appeal court judge, Mohammed Warsame, as a member of the Judicial Service Commission .
This led to a spate of correspondence, and then to litigation, on whether Kenyatta's actions were constitutional. Was he supposed to invite comment from Parliament or the public? Did he have any role at all in appointing representatives chosen by the various arms of the judiciary? The role of the President, said the appeal court, was 'simply to appoint an elected commissioner within three days of submission of the nominee's name.'
In its judgment, the Supreme Court majority held that Kenya's various constitutional commissions differed in the way its members are officially appointed.
Elections of the appeal court member to represent the rest of that court on the JSC were carried out by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and this was the body to confirm his election via a certificate. It is also the IEBC that publishes a Gazette notice confirming the outcome of these elections. This was to be following by the taking of the oath of office before the Chief Justice.