Karua’s bid to remove High Court judge for dismissing her case
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Karua suffers a blow in a bid to remove High Court judge, Justice Lucy Gitari for dismissing her election petition in 2017
Karua suffers a blow in a bid to remove High Court judge, Justice Lucy Gitari for dismissing her election petition in 2017.
Narc-Kenya party leader Martha Karua has failed in her bid to reverse a decision of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to dismiss her petition for the removal of a High Court judge from office.
Ms. Karua sought that the High Court’s judicial review division overturn a JSC judgment that dismissed her complaint against Justice Lucy Gitari for handling her election case contesting Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru’s victory in the 2017 election.
The Narc-Kenya party leader had accused Ms. Gitari of incompetence and gross misconduct.
Karua claimed in her judicial review lawsuit against the JSC that the organization that employs the judges did not give her a chance to fight her petition before abruptly rejecting it.
Justice Anthony Ndung’u has now, however, dismissed Ms. Karua’s review case, claiming it lacked merit, was poorly thought through, and was a misuse of the legal system.
According to Justice Ndung’u, there is no proof that JSC broke any procedural guidelines when handling Ms. Karua’s complaint.
“The fact that the JSC considered Ms. Karua’s petition is a testimony, by itself, that she was given an opportunity to present her case before it was dismissed. I am satisfied that the JSC considered Ms. Karua’s petition and in the JSC’s opinion, and for reasons which it communicated to her, the petition did not warrant any further action except to dismiss it,” said Justice Ndung’u.
Justice Gitari was the presiding judge in an election petition filed by Ms. Karua at the High Court in Kerugoya.
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Her complaint against Justice Gitari, which was the basis of her petition to the JSC for her removal, stemmed from a piece of evidence Ms. Karua presented in court in preparation for the hearing of the election petition.
The evidence, which was described in the affidavit as “electronic evidence”, disappeared while in the court’s custody.
According to reports, Justice Gitari assured Ms. Karua that an investigation into the disappearance of the evidence would be conducted after being notified of the situation.
Ms. Karua said that in spite of the judge’s assurances, she ultimately decided that Ms. Karua had not filed the pertinent electronic evidence.
Ms. Karua lost the 2017 election petition and subsequent appeals in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court had dismissed her appeal against the Court of Appeal decision on grounds that time to hear the matter had lapsed, but Ms. Karua had argued that time lapsed due to a process beyond her control.
She took the case to the East African Court of Justice (EACJ), which awarded her Sh2.7 million as damages for infringement of her right to a fair trial and hearing.
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