Chief Justice David Maraga, through his lawyer Isaac Wamaasa, on Monday defended himself in court against claims launched by lawyer Edwin Nanda that the Judicial Service Commission was dragging cases
Maraga faulted the lawyers from the Law Society of Kenya for failing to appear during the stakeholder planning and coordination team hence causing the delay.
“Judicial trainings and education was not conducted in a haphazard or emergency manner as alleged but were preceded by a training planning co-ordination meeting of stakeholders and which the Law Society of Kenya were invited but have never honoured the invitation,” read part of the document.
He further indicated that the delays in solving the cases were attributable to the recent abrupt budgetary cuts that forced the JSC to stick to the training calendar.
He added that the meetings culminated in the preparation and adoption by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in a Training Master Calendar that forms the basis of continuous professional development for the entire financial year.
Maraga called for the dismissal of the petition noting that it was filed in bad faith, constitutes an abuse of the court process and is a waste of judicial resources and time.
Nanda, in his petition, accounted that the Judicial Service Commission was planning poorly and demanded to know why cases were taking too long to be handled.
Through lawyer Kipkoech Ngetich, he sought orders to compel Maraga and the JSC to release the calendars for all the Judiciary events of the year 2019 which should be circulated to all judicial officers.
Lawyer Wamaasa, in his response, indicated that the petitioner sent a letter to his client on January 2, seeking to be furnished with the year’s calendar, which was forwarded to the Director of Judicial Training Institute, Justice Kathurima M’Inoti.
Nanda filed the petition against Maraga on January 2019.
