Kenya: The cases against suspended judge (Joseph Mutava)

By PAUL OGEMBA.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has seven days to appoint a tribunal to investigate the conduct of Justice Joseph Mutava, as details emerged why the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) recommended his suspension.

Sources privy to the commission’s report said judge Mutava was indicted on two grounds of interfering with the judgment of two other judges and favouring Goldenberg scandal mastermind Kamlesh Pattni.

Although JSC ruled that it could not overturn or make a finding on the merits of the judgment that let Mr Pattni off the hook, Justice Mutava’s accounts as to how the case came before him cannot rule out allegations of impropriety raised against him.

“The fact that he not only caused the file to be retrieved from the safe custody of the High Court in Nairobi and taken to him at Kericho but also went ahead to write a judgment on it at a time when the JSC was still inquiring into the allegations of misconduct against him with regard to the same matter was a serious failure of judgment on his part,” says the report.

The JSC last week bowed to pressure and recommended the suspension of Justice Mutava over allegations of misconduct.

The judge was facing 11 counts of impropriety, eight of which were dismissed by the five-member sub-committee headed by Supreme Court judge Justice Smokin Wanjala.

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