Njoki Ndung’u at a past event. (Photo/the-star.co.ke)
Supreme Court judge Justice Njoki Ndung’u is expected to take the witness stand to persuade the High Court why the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) should not probe her over alleged gross misconduct.
She will be questioned for allegedly participating in an illegal strike in 2015 that paralyzed operations in the highest court in the land.
Justice Chacha Mwita has allowed the JSC to cross-examine the judge, but at the same time given Justice Njoki a lifeline by giving her the green light to interrogate former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga over the go-slow.
Mwita said it is in the interest of justice that the former CJ is questioned on affidavits he swore in support of JSC’s case, that Njoki, together with her counterpart Justice Jackton Ojwang’, went on a go-slow, hence crippling operations of the Supreme Court.
The strike was to protest the decision of the JSC to retire the then Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and Philip Tunoi upon attaining the mandatory age of 70. Mutunga has denied that the decision to go on strike was a collective one.
Lawyer Apollo Mboya has lodged a similar case against the JSC and wants the commission directed to recommend to the President the formation of a tribunal to probe justice Njoki’s conduct.
She has, through advocate Andrew Musangi, challenged JSC’s move to admonish her arguing that she was not accorded a fair hearing.
Njoki wants the court to determine the parameters through which the JSC can operate, to avert any political abuse of the commission’s power which may erode its independence.