The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has set Tuesday, December 14, as the date for the oral submissions in the petitions seeking to remove High Court Judge, Said Juma Chitembwe, from office.
In a statement dated Thursday, November 25, JSC resolved that both the Petitioners and the Judge will appear before it for an oral hearing.
The hearing will start at 9.00am at the JSC Offices at Re-Insurance Plaza in Nairobi.
The matter will proceed on a day-to-day basis until it is heard and finalized.
In the petition tabled before the Judicial Service Commission on 22 November 2021, Chitebwe was directed to issue a response within 14 days.
The hearing will then take place on a daily basis until the matter is heard and determined by JSC.
"The Commission further resolved that both Your Lordship and the Petitioners be invited to appear before the Commission for an oral hearing of the Petitions on Tuesday 14th December 2021 at 9.00am at the ISC Offices at Re-Insurance Plaza Building Podium Floor, Taifa Road and thereafter on a day to day basis until the matter is heard and finalized.
"You are hereby requested to furnish the Commission with any documents that you may wish to rely on during the hearing and a list of witnesses and witness statements (if any), who shall be testifying in support of your Petition," the statement read in part.
The petitioners, Imgard Beige and David Leboo, was also directed to submit a list of witnesses, witness statements together with the documents to the 2SC Secretariat Offices within Fourteen (14) days.
The two persons had appealed to the JSC to remove Chitembwe from the Judiciary citing prejudices in a succession case Justice Chitembwe presided over at the Malindi Law Courts.
The petitioners said in court documents that they have credible information that the judge was influenced in order to dismiss the succession case they had filed and upheld the distribution of the contested property.
"The judge had a personal interest in the suit property and the objection proceedings were nothing but mere formalities," the petition read in part.
According to the petitioners, even before the judgment was delivered, the property was transferred and registered in the name of the judge's brother.
Further, the petitioners claim that Justice Chitembwe used his brother as a proxy to acquire the property.
