The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has asked competent lawyers to apply for the soon-to-be advertised judges’ and magistrates’ positions.
The Law Society of Kenya’s (LSK) JSC member representative Prof Tom Ojienda has said the commission will also advertise, in the next few weeks, six vacancies for chief magistrates and 60 positions for new senior resident magistrates.
Recently, the JSC, chaired by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, recruited 25 lawyers to become judges but President Uhuru Kenyatta confirmed only 11 of the nominees.
Ojienda said when JSC advertised 70 vacancies, it faced difficulties filling 30 slots for the environmental and lands divisions of the Kenyan court system for lack of integrity and competence.
The CJ, while addressing an LSK's annual conference, said only 16 applicants qualified for the positions. He added that another drawback was that many lawyers in Kenya were under investigation by the Ombudsman over corruption.
Speaking over the weekend in Nakuru town, Ojienda however asked local advocates to confidently fill these positions.
He said this is the first time that Kenyan lawyers are being asked to fill positions of ‘senior’ in the magistracy.
Ojienda said in the past, one could only start a career in the bench for the position of senior resident magistrate.