Appointment Of Retired Court of Appeal Judge Erastus Githinji To Tax Appeals Tribunal Elicits Debate Over His Eligibility

The appointment of retired Court of Appeal Judge Erastus Mwaniki Githinji as Chairman of the Tax Appeals Tribunal has elicited a public debate on his eligibility for appointment to the position.

In a Kenya Gazette Notice dated April 15, 2020, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani appointed Githinji to the position for a period of five years.

But a section of Kenya’s legal minds has termed Githinji’s appointment as illegal.

Taking to Twitter Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi stated that the 71-year-old is not qualified for the job for the simple reason that he is a retired judge.

The law stipulates that for a person to be appointed Chairperson of the Tax Appeals Tribunal he/she must be qualified to be appointed as a judge of the High Court.

“This (appointment) OBVIOUSLY is illegal. The person to be appointed chairman of the tribunal ‘must be qualified to be appointed as a judge of the High Court’…and a retired judge is not so qualified, ” said Ahmednasir.

The city lawyer was flanked by his colleague in the profession Prof. Tom Ojienda who posed, “How is a retired judge eligible to be a judge?”

Read 69-year-old Judge Erastus Githinji Sues Employer Over Retirement Notice

Others including the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Nelson Havi castigated CS Yatani for picking an “old man” from retirement to lead the tribunal in the modern-day and age where many Kenyans are qualified for the job.

“This is Justice (Rtd) Erastus Mwaniki Githinji. He was admitted to the bar in 1976, a year before I was born. He is 71 years old. He is a retired CoA Judge and in the Covid-19 vulnerable category. The Government has appointed him Chairman of Tax Appeals Tribunal. It is moronic, ” said Havi.

“As #Covid19 continues, Treasury CS Your Yatani just appointed a very energetic youth, a 71-year-old retired judge, Erastus Mwaniki Githinji who started working in 1976 to Chair the Tax Appeals Tribunal. When this is all over, Kenya will be gone, ” a tweep only identified as Juma G. said.

Last year, Githinji caused scenes after he sued the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) for sending him to “early retirement”. He argued that the decision to retire him was unlawful.

The JSC had issued him with a notice to retire from July 1, 2019, upon attaining the retirement age of 70 for judges.

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In his petition, Githinji argued that his date of birth is December 30, 1949, and not January 1, 1949, blaming the mistake on the Public Service Commission (PSC) which only indicated on his job application form the year of birth and not the date.

“This error is not of his making and exposes him to even criminal cases because he might be accused of falsifying his date of birth,” the petition read.

Githinji’s case is not the first to elicit an angry reaction from a section of Kenyans, the Jubilee administration has in the recent past been criticized over questionable appointments with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s ‘love for the old’ receiving condemnation from the youth.

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