It has caught many by surprise the the serving Chief Justice David Maraga could be seeing the exit door sooner before his period comes to an end.
This is after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) received a petition seeking the removal of Chief Justice David Maraga from office over gross misconduct.
The request by Yussuf Ibrahim Dimbil, a concerned Kenyan comes barely a week after a similar one was lodged against four judges of the apex court.
The previous application seeks removal of justices Smokin Wanjala, Mohammed Ibrahim, Njoki Ndung’u and Jackton Ojwang over bribery allegations.
Ibrahim who seeks CJ Maraga’s ouster fault’s the head of the Judiciary for appearing in political rallies and homecoming ceremonies for politicians of a certain region and making reckless political statements without care as to their implications for the institutional independence of the Judiciary.
“The recent conduct of Maraga falls short of the requisite standard of the occupier of the office of the CJ which in many ways has violated the Constitution,” he states.
Ibrahim has gone on to accuse Maraga of determining the 2017 presidential petition yet his nephew Brian Onderi was appearing on behalf of the petitioners.
The CJ’s office, the petitioner claims, is in a deliberate process of ensuring that employees are from his ethnic community.
Eight five per cent of the work force in Maraga’s office , Ibrahim alleges, is drawn from the Kisii community.
“The situation is so bad to the extent that meetings and instructions in the said office is conducted in the ethnic dialect of the CJ,” adds Ibrahim.
The petitioner argues that the CJ’s office cannot be the bastion of tribalism and favouritism but ought to be the beacon of hope when it comes to the selfless defence of the Constitution”.
Further, Maraga is accused to have displayed partisan and tribal partiality by saying the CS nominee for Education Prof George Magoha ought not to be vetted.
Ibrahim who insists that Maraga’s conduct has brought the office of the CJ into disrepute has implored the JSC to recommend to President Uhuru Kenyatta to form a tribunal to investigate his conduct