Controversial Nairobi-based judge George Odunga has been moved to Machakos, in a move widely seen as a consequence of the questionable decisions the officer made last year regarding the elections.
Justice Odunga, widely perceived to be working for Siaya Senator James Orengo and NASA in general, is the key figure among the 18 judges that Chief Justice David Maraga transferred in the latest reshuffle. The move is a demotion, according to legal experts. In the run-up to the presidential election last year, Justice Odunga made countless decisions in favour of NASA, with Orengo acting as the main lawyer, leading to Kenyans questioning his neutrality and independence. It was discovered later that Odunga and Orengo are relatives — the judge’s wife is a nice to the senator — and the judicial officer did not disqualify himself from hearing the numerous cases that Orengo argued before him because of conflict of interest. Even after the Raila had lost the August 8 election by a landslide, Odunga set the stage for a constitutional crisis by making a last-minute ruling that the returning officers appointed to preside over the repeat October 26 election were not hired in accordance with the law. A superior court had to sit late in the evening to correct this questionable decision. Had Odunga’s ruling stood, Raila would have used the crisis to demand a caretaker government with President Uhuru Kenyatta. Months earlier, Justice Odunga defied calls to recuse himself in the ballot case filed by Orengo against IEBC. He ended up ruling in favour of his relative. Odunga’s peculiar behaviour and the political decision of the Supreme Court to nullify the results of the August 8 election, which the president clearly won, made the head of state to promise that he would revisit the operations of the judiciary to ensure it does not disregard the will of the people. It is hard to argue that Odunga is not suffering the consequences of his biased decisions.