Lawyer Tom Ojienda has refuted claims that he is behind the recent reshuffle in the judiciary that saw all Nakuru-based judges moved.
Reacting to claims made by the immediate former chairman of the Rift Valley Law Society, Bernard Kipng’etich, the Nakuru-based law professor said he did not wield any powers above those of Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, who announced the nationwide judiciary-shakeup.
Kipng’etich had claimed that Ojienda used his newly elected position as a member of the Judicial Service Commission to influence the transfers.
Ojienda, however, said the transfers were solely in the docket of the chief justice.
“If they are saying that I influenced the transfers then they are equally saying that I am a powerful figure in the judiciary, which is flattering,” said Ojienda.
A week ago, lawyers made various reactions to the re-organisation of the bench announced by Mutunga with some in the legal fraternity welcoming the move, terming it a step in the right direction.
However, members of the Rift Valley Law Society of Kenya said the reshuffle would adversely affect service delivery in some stations.
Ojienda himself welcomed the reshuffle, saying it has recognised the role of senior judges who have all been posted to head various stations.
“The issue of seniority has long been ignored in the judiciary but now the CJ has implemented one of the key policies to recognise the role played by senior judges in the dispensation of justice.”
The senior counsel said the posting of a judge to Naivasha was long overdue and would help decongest Nakuru and serve Narok counties, which have a huge number of pending land cases.
But the society’s Nakuru branch chairman, David Mongeri, criticised the removal of almost all judges from Nakuru, fearing it would stall the hearing of cases that had partly been heard by the reshuffled judges.
He said lawyers expected the re-organisation to be done in phases to enable judges’ clear backlog of cases they were handling.