Would you be able to handle a scenario where fellow employees some of lower rank seat down to decide on your future and determine your career an area where you are an expert on?Justice Mwilu will be going through just that.
Chief Justice David Maraga has appointed a five-judge bench comprising Justices Hellen Omondi, Mumbi Ngugi, Francis Tuiyott, William Musyoka and Chacha Mwita to hear the case filed by Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji.
Justice Omondi sits in Eldoret while Justice Mumbi at the High Court in Kericho. Justice Tuiyott is a commercial court judge while Justice Musyoka, who was hearing family court cases in Milimani, now is in Kakamega. Justice Mwita sits in Milimani Court as a Constitutional Division Court judge and had touched on Justice Mwilu’s file by issuing temporary orders that she should not be charged until her case is heard and determined.
In referring the file to the CJ, High Court judge Chacha Mwita said the petition raises substantial questions and due to its public importance, it is only fair it be heard by a bench.
Mwita said since the promulgation of the Constitution, it is the first time a sitting DCJ has been arrested, and arraigned in a court of law with accusations that happened at a time she was a Court of Appeal judge.
The determination of the case he said will have a material bearing on the independence of the Judiciary. Having agreed to certify the application for empanelment of a bench, Mwita said it is only reasonable that the conservatory orders staying Mwilu’s criminal case remain in force. This is to preserve the status of the petition pending pronouncement of the law by the bench.
Mwilu is facing 13 counts of abuse of office, tax evasion and fraudulent recovery of loan securities
In her case, Justice Mwilu argues that the DPP’s charges stemmed from a purely commercial transaction that should not mutate to a criminal charge. She filed her case before the Constitutional Division of the High Court, arguing that her rights were at stake. Judge Mwita said Mwilu’s case had raised important questions that required more than one judge to interpret.
If she falls, Justice Mwilu will follow in the footsteps of Nancy Barasa, the DCJ who was dethroned in 2012, when a Judicial Tribunal called for her removal after she was found guilty of “gross misconduct and misbehaviour”