President Uhuru Kenyatta has formally appointed Court of Appeal Judge Martha Koome as Kenya’s Chief Justice.
In a gazette notice dated May 19, the Head of State appointed the 61-year-old to be the President of the Supreme Court of Kenya.
The appointment comes just hours after the National Assembly approved Justice Koome’s nomination as CJ.
This is following a recommendation by the House’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.
The judge was vetted by the committee chaired by Kangema Member of Parliament Muturi Kigano last week.
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MPs considered the committee’s report on Wednesday in a special sitting convened by Speaker Justin Muturi.
The appointment now paves way for Justice Koome’s swearing-in as the 15th Chief Justice of the Republic of Kenya, the first woman to occupy the office.
While appearing before JLAC last week, Justice Koome was put to task to answer to an affidavit by Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Nelson Havi where he suggested in a memorandum that she was not suitable to succeed Justice David Maraga who retired in January this year.
She defended herself vowing to ensure the Judiciary is not influenced by either the Executive or the Legislature in discharging its duties.
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“In service delivery, we require the support of Parliament for allocation of resources to the Judiciary and the Executive for enforcing and implementing some of our decisions,” she told the committee.
Justice Koome, who boasts of 33 years of experience in legal practice, was nominated for the position of Chief Justice by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) last month.
She was among 10 candidates shortlisted and interviewed for the position of CJ by JSC.
The nine contestants she faced off against are Said Chitembwe, Prof Patricia Mbote, Justice Marete Njagi, Senior Counsel Philip Murgor, Justice Nduma Nderi, Fred Ngatia, Justice William Ouko, Dr Wekesa Moni and Alice Yano.
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