A court in Embu has lifted orders it had issued requiring Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu to step down as acting Chief Justice.
This comes moments after Mwilu filed an application at Meru High Court seeking to suspend the ruling that barred her from office as acting CJ.
Justice Patrick Otieno’s ruling against Mwilu was dismissed by her defence team who disagreed with how he took it upon himself to give an order.
The effect of which, according to Mwilu's lawyers, was to remove a judge of a court superior than his, a Deputy Chief Justice and an active Chief Justice.
The advocates also accused the court of having been influenced by political forces driving the Judiciary's decision.
They have also questioned the basis at which they decided to take the case to Meru and cited it was in attempt to favour their case against Mwilu.
"Only two explanations for this; deep state has a lot of dirt on Justice PJ Otieno and has banked a post-dated cheque given to it or the order is a fraud," tweeted President Nelson Havi who is one of Mwilu's lawyers.
Wiper leader and Senior counsel Kalonzo Musyoka also condemned the ruling by the Meru court and demanded that the acting CJ be granted a fair hearing as required by law.
“I was shocked because the Constitution is clear on how to deal with the matter of vacancy of a judge of the High Court or Supreme Court or Court of Appeal. If you want to get rid of them, under the Constitution there is a very elaborate formula,” Kalonzo said.
"The rule of law is broken and judicial anarchy sets in when judicial processes are used and abused to achieve unlawful outcomes or brazen political objectives," he said.
Philomena Mwilu took over as Acting Chief Justice after former Chief Justice David Maraga retired on Tuesday, 12 January 2021.
