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The search for eight new judges to the Court of Appeal by Service Commission (JSC) has began.
In a notice published in local dailies, JSC invited applications from qualified persons to be submitted no later than September 11 this year.The Constitution requires that each judge of the Court of Appeal shall be appointed from among persons who have at least ten years experience as a superior court judge, or similar experience as a distinguished academic or legal practitioner or such experience in another relevant legal field.The Judges, who are constitutional office holders, will serve and retire at the age of 70 years with an option to retire on attaining the age of 65 years.There has been a shortage of justices at The top Kenyan court against the constitutional threshold of 30 judges for the past five years.The deficit was further heightened by the promotion of Justice David Maraga and Justice Philomena Mwilu to the positions of Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice respectively.More than three judges of the Court of Appeal are also about to retire and who are part of between 19 and 20 judges serving in Nairobi, Kisumu, Nyeri and Mombasa stations Judiciary sources indicate.The planned recruitment of eight new Appellate Judges is part of Justice Maraga’s ambitious plan to revamp the judiciary which also includes creation of new superior court stations to bring justice closer to Kenyans.During his tour around the country last year, Justice Maraga stated that eight counties will have new High Court stations and at least one magistrate’s court in all the 290 sub-counties by next year.