Chief Justice David Maraga. [Photo/The Star]
Days after the Supreme Court passed a historic ruling that nullified the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta, the Head of State and his team have disagreed with the verdict and repeatedly stated that they will 'fix the Judiciary if re-elected in repeat polls within sixty days.
“We shall revisit this thing. We clearly have a problem. Who even elected you? We have a problem and we must fix it," said an angry Uhuru.
Kenyans from different quarters have condemned Uhuru's statements which he made on Friday while meeting his supporters at the Burma market, Nairobi. The Law Society of Kenya(LSK) has termed the president's utterances as an assault on the independence of judges.to the independence of judges.
However, looking back to the Constitution, whatever Uhuru and his team are 'barking' about translates to barks that can't bite because he(Uhuru) has no powers to fire Chief Justice David Maraga.
According to Article 168 of the Constitution, removal of a Chief Justice or the Judges of the Supreme Court is no walk in the park. It is definitely not a stroke-of-a-pen decision - it is a rigorous process that does not start with the President.
The Chief Justice can only be sent home in two ways, one through a motion by the Judicial Service Commission(JSC) acting on its own or a petition from a member of the commission.
A petition to the JSC should be in writing, setting out the alleged facts constituting the grounds for the removal of the judge.
In finality, it is the JSC that has the bigger say in sending the top judge in Kenya home and as of now the JSC is chaired by Chief Justice David Maraga and other members include Justices Smokin Wanjala, Mohamed Warsame and Aggrey Muchelule, and AG Githu Muigai, Tom Ojienda and Emily Ominde as commissioners.
It is important to note that the Constitution states, the President will only act in accordance with the recommendations of the JSC before a tribunal chaired by the National Assembly Speaker is convened.