It was a sad day for former Judge Joseph Mutava as the Supreme court on Tuesday upheld the decision by a tribunal to remove him from office.
The five-judge Supreme Court bench found Mutava culpable of influencing the Goldenberg case placed before him. “We looked at the proceedings before the tribunal and we are of the view that the judge was given a fair hearing,” the judges stated.
Earlier on, a tribunal formed to investigate Mutava’s conduct found him to be unfit to serve in the Judiciary due to his cross misconduct. The tribunal had made recommendations to the head of state to have the judge removed from judiciary.
The former judge had appealed requesting the Supreme Court to make a proper finding, citing the allegations did not amount to the need for his removal. Mutava added that the five-judge bench, which was chaired by Chief Justice David Maraga, had expressed open bias against him when his wife Kibwezi East MP, Jessica Mbalu was compelled to testify.
However, in the Tuesday ruling, the judges indicated that Mutava’s wife had not been compelled to testify.
Mutava is alleged to have allocated himself the Goldenberg case file without the knowledge of the duty judge and went ahead to give a written judgment.