National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss Shollei on Wednesday, April 19, recounted a tumultuous period when she was fired as Chief Registrar of the Judiciary over graft allegations in 2013.
Speaking on KTN Home's Your Story, Shollei noted that she was forced to defend herself due to the allegations which led to a bruising court battle that dragged on for over nine years.
During that period, she admitted to losing friends as she spent her energy and resources trying to clear her name. Further, the firing came at a time when she had sworn former President Uhuru Kenyatta into office.
"Because I knew I had not done anything wrong, my immediate action was to be on the defensive. For everything they accused me of, I found documentation to support my view and defend myself.
"I appeared a lot in the media because I did not allow them to state one thing without a response.
"At some point, my mother advised me to let the matter go. I disagreed with her on that point," she added.
Revisiting to the allegations, Shollei affirmed that part of her team, comprising 11 team members, suffered collateral damage as they were also fired at the time.
She pointed out how they suffered due to the circumstances, with some being kicked out of their homes while others' properties were auctioned.
"I will write my own story because there was someone accusing me of corruption. Eventually, I was vindicated, imagine if I let it go. I fought it out to the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court. It took nine years but vindication came. Without the grace of God, I would not have survived that," she noted.
The deputy speaker claimed that her detractors felt that she had overstepped her bounds and was superior to the Chief Justice at the time.
Case
Shollei was sacked in October 2013 over allegations of misusing funds worth Ksh2.207 billion. She was also accused of irregularities in procurement, countermanding decisions of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and mismanagement of human resources.
The case dragged on for nine years, with the matter being heard at the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in her favour and deemed that she was unfairly sacked without being given the reasons for the action - which led to a gross violation of her rights.
"The JSC violated Shollei's right to fair administrative action by failing to give her reasons for her termination. The least that JSC would have done was to enclose its reasons in the removal letter. the same way it enclosed the allegations against Shollei in its letter dated September 10, 2013.
