President William Ruto Appoints 6 Judges Nominated By The Judicial Service Commission

Upon assuming office of the President by swearing in to the oaths yesterday, William Ruto signed an executive order on day one requiring the appointment of the six judges earlier nominated to the Court of Appeal.

These judges whom were recommended by Judicial Service Commission headed by former Chief Justice David Maraga three years ago but rejected by the former President Uhuru citing integrity concerns are; Prof Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Weldon Korir and Aggrey Muchelule. He named High Court registrar Elizabeth Omange and chief magistrate Evans Makori as Environment and Lands Court judges.

While the two superior arms of the government (Judiciary and Executive) have been on the loggerheads for quite sometime especially when they were lead by the formers, Uhuru and Maraga, not only did Uhuru decline the appointment of the six judges despite several court orders but also turned down Maraga’s request to have the Commission receive a development vote of least 2.5 per cent in a budget of Ksh3.3 trillion.

President Ruto promised to increase the Judiciary funding by Sh3 billion each year which could see the number of small claims courts, magistrates courts, and High Courts increase from 25 small claims courts, 34 High Courts and 123 magistrate courts.

“To further demonstrate my commitment to the independence of the Judiciary, this afternoon, I will appoint the six judges already nominated for appointment to the Court of Appeal three years ago by the Judicial Service Commission and tomorrow, I shall preside over their swearing-in ceremony so that they can get on with the business of serving the people.” Ruto said.

“These resources will support the bottom-up scaling of justice by increasing the number of small claims courts from the current 25 to 100. We will also work with the judiciary to build High Courts in the remaining seven counties and magistrates courts in the remaining 123 sub-counties and support their ongoing digitization.” He added.