Chief Justice Martha Koome on Thursday, October 7, warned lawyers handling a case where two Kenyans are facing extradition charges for allegedly receiving billions of shillings in bribes - through offshore accounts in Jersey Islands.
Koome warned that the court would not tolerate individuals who do not take proceedings seriously adding that the apex court would no longer be approached in a casual manner.
She was forced to adjourn the hearing of a petition on the extradition of former Cabinet minister Chris Okemo and former Kenya Power Managing Director Samuel Gichuru to Jersey Island to face graft and money laundering charges to October 21.
The court declined a request by Gichuru to have Koome out of the bench to hear the appeal. Through lawyer Benson Muchiri, Gichuru had sought to have Koome out of the bench hearing the case.
"There is no application or the order before us from the Court of Appeal showing that Justice Koome had recused herself. The Chief Justice and the bench as constituted will so remain," the country's highest court ruled.
The CJ added that she would not allow further adjournments in the case that has been pending in court for more than 10 years.
It was noted that the reason Koome did not recuse herself from the matter due to perceived bias was to avoid sideshows.
She castigated Gichuru and Okemo's lawyers for not filing a formal application for her recusal from the case.
"I am really displeased by the casual manner this court has been taken this morning by some parties. We were here roped ready to proceed with this matter. I wonder why Muchiri did not even inform the court in advance of his intentions only for this matter not to proceed, " Koome stated.
She also highlighted that the trend by lawyers who appear before the court was tiresome.
The CJ also gave another example of a case that was listed for hearing on Wednesday morning where the court took more than two hours in the proceeding and the case failed to be heard over pretrial directions.
She however urged parties appearing before the court to inform the court in advance if they do not intend to go ahead with the hearings of the case.
