Erick Okong'o Mogeni

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 1321 to 1330 of 2536.

• 11 Nov 2021 in Senate: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, yesterday when we adjourned, I was trying to finish giving historical background on the history of this country on this matter of appointment of judges. I was about to go into the current legal framework governing the appointment of judges. Mr. Speaker Sir, Chapter 10 of our Constitution comprehensively addresses the mechanisms through which judges are appointed. What is being considered in this Statement, is whether the recommendations of JSC are binding to the President or whether he has a discretion to disregard the recommendations of the JSC. I started by disclosing to this House that ... view
• 11 Nov 2021 in Senate: body that has wide representation in society; the Judiciary, Executive, legal profession and members of the public. Further, the procedure of appointing or recommending persons to be appointed as judges is also regulated in the Constitution. Article 172(2)(a) of the Constitution states that the process of sending those nominees to the President must be done in a competitive and transparent process. Therefore, the JSC is obligated to place advertisements in the newspapers and conduct interviews before they forward the names of the nominees to the President. Article 166 of the Constitution binds the President to appoint the Chief Justice and ... view
• 11 Nov 2021 in Senate: We also looked at the courts’ interpretation of those Articles of the Constitution. We realized that this matter has been a subject of litigation in a number of instances. The first case was when the JSC only forwarded the name of retired Chief Justice Maraga as their nominee for the position of Chief Justice to the President. There was a proposal that the JSC ought to have sent three names from whom the President should have picked one. That matter was heard in the High Court. A three bench judge made a finding that the Constitution obligates the JSC to ... view
• 11 Nov 2021 in Senate: We made a comparison with the situation that prevails in one of our democracies in Africa; South Africa. We drew a distinction with what prevails there. Section 174 of the South African Constitution obligates the South African JSC to forward three names to the President for each vacant position. This is unlike what prevails in Kenya where the Constitution does not give room to the President to pick from three. The argument that we should send three names to the President has a very clear distinction when you compare the South African and the Kenyan constitutions. In Kenya, it tells ... view
• 11 Nov 2021 in Senate: continue to dispense justice as judges of the High Court of Kenya with this kind of blanket condemnation facing them. The other observation we made was that it is inhuman to continue condemning these judges unheard, while they continue serving as judicial officers. The judges risk suffering serious reputation risk on account of their continued non-appointment. What do you think is in the minds of litigants who appear before these judges as they continue reading these reports in the newspapers, that these judges and the two magistrates have never been appointed because they have some integrity issues? Remember this matter ... view
• 11 Nov 2021 in Senate: The matter that is under inquiry relates to a process that was concluded in July 2019. The first bunch of judges were appointed in June, 2021. That is close to almost two years after their names were forwarded to the President for appointment. This Committee is saying is that it seems that Article 259(8) can be abused. Somebody can say “reasonable time” is one year, two years or whatever. That is why we have made a recommendation that this House considers amending the Judicial Service Act so that a period is prescribed within which the President should appoint judges once ... view
• 11 Nov 2021 in Senate: I think another time when the Americans responded to address a problem was in 1951. It was the 22nd amendment. When George Washington was elected the First President of the USA, he put in place this precedence that the President should serve for two terms. That became the practice for so many years until in the 1930s, when President Franklin Roosevelt decided to seek a third term and was actually elected President for a third term. In response in 1951, America had to pass the 22nd amendment to put a term limit on presidential tenure and say no president will ... view
• 11 Nov 2021 in Senate: of 3rd June, 2021. That is Gazette No.124. We looked at all the academic qualifications of these judges and we have no doubt they meet the professional qualifications. The JSC complied with the Constitution; advertisements were placed in the newspapers; Kenyans were invited to make comments and views on the non-suitability of these judges; and, the judges were interviewed in a competitive exercise. As allowed by Constitution and by law, the JSC recommended the people they deemed to have been best qualified to be appointed as judges. Madam Temporary Speaker, in the process, we made an observation that the person ... view
• 11 Nov 2021 in Senate: decision that was arrived at by the JSC. Therefore, this Committee made an observation that is bound by the decision that was made by the JSC. In the event that he wants to continue litigating in court, this Committee proposes that the Attorney-General invokes the provisions of Article 156(7) of the Constitution and designates some officers independent of him, to exercise some of the roles. These roles include conducting the litigations in court, so that he does not find himself in a very awkward position before the JSC. It is the hope of this Committee that the son of Kapkatet, ... view
• 11 Nov 2021 in Senate: We thank the Parliamentary staff and the office of the Clerk of the Senate, who assisted us with research in compiling this report. We also appreciate the time they spent to compile this report. I also thank all the Members of my Committee, who were useful in compiling this report. Madam Temporary Speaker, with those many remarks, I beg to move and kindly ask Sen. Orengo to second the report. view