Law Society of Kenya President Nelson Havi, on Wednesday, March 4, laid down his goals including tackling the impasse between President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Judiciary.
In a sit-down with The Standard, the lawyer revealed that he would ensure that the issues between Uhuru and Chief Justice David Maraga regarding the swearing-in of 41 judges were resolved.
It all started when the president declined to gazette the 41 jurists presented to him by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), four months after he received the list of nominees.
"All the 41 nominated judges should be sworn into office without delay to enhance the justice system.
“It is important to note that we do not have a sufficient number of judges and magistrates. We must find a solution to the appointment of judges so that the backlog of cases can be concluded in time," he stated.
Uhuru had failed to gazette the judges questioning the integrity of some of the nominees.
In the succeeding months, the CJ would go on a rant and publicly voice frustrations about how the Judiciary had been alienated by the state to an extent it had its budget slashed despite a backlog of cases.
While addressing members of the press in front of the Supreme Court in Nairobi, Maraga disclosed that the budget cuts imposed on the Judiciary were hurting service delivery countrywide.
“Unless the budget cuts are reversed, we do not have money for fuel, we will not have mobile courts, we will not have the court of appeal circuits, we will not be able to pay for wi-fi for the e-filing and e-payments and plans to automate courts will halt," he stated at the time.
In response, Uhuru maintained that the Judiciary would have to put up with limited funding arguing that the whole government had been affected.
Several other lawyers, including Abdikadir Mohammed, Uhuru's former advisor, backed the Judiciary arguing that the 41 appointees were needed to help speed up cases.
Eleven judges had been nominated for the Court of Appeal namely, Justices Francis Tuiyot, Weldon Korir, Mbogholi Msagha, Aggrey Muchelule, George Odunga, Joel Ngugi, Hellen Omondi, Pauline Nyamweya, Jessie Lesiit, Mumbi Ngugi and Kibaya Laibuta.
Maraga also recommended 10 names for the Labour Court and 20 others for the Lands Court.
Havi also vowed to push for the independence of the Judiciary obedience of court orders and minding the plight of young lawyers.
Havi beat four other candidates including Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi's wife Maria Mbeneka to clinch the LSK Presidency.
He took over from Allen Gichuhi who came into office in 2017 with promises of turning LSK into a transformative and visionary body.
