The recommendation a special committee constituted by JSC that President Uhuru Kenyatta forms a tribunal to investigate Supreme Court Judge Philip Tunoi over bribery allegations has elicited sharp reaction from nominated senator Janet Ong’era.
Speaking in Nyamache on Saturday, the ODM nominated called for probe of the entire bench saying the findings were detrimental to the entire judicial system.
Ong’era said a single judge could not solely influence a decision hence urged the other six judges to step aside or resign to pave way for investigations.
“The findings by that committee have given me the reason to believe that the Supreme Court is compromised. This is an indication that the highest court’s integrity is at stake and in my opinion; a single judge cannot influence a ruling. This means that a number of them took bribes and it’s time for them to be probed,” she said.
She contended that the preliminary investigations indicated that were exchanges between Nairobi Governor’s agents and the judge and insisted that there was need to investigate the whole bench.
“When the investigations show that Evans Kidero’s agents were in regular communications with the embattled judge, it surely means the allegations are true. The entire bench should now face probe because that is not a light matter. A single Tonui could not influence a judgment,” she said.
She also called for need to review the presidential petition filed by CORD in 2013 elections and claimed the seven judges were lords of corruption.
“It’s difficult now for us to even trust the outcome of presidential petition. The entire bench is compromised and the Kidero saga has shown how serious corruption issues are in the judiciary. They should be probed to restore sanity in the judiciary,” she added.