NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 24 – Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has now petitioned the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to initiate the removal of Justice Said Juma Chitembwe, after a week of drama in which he unleased videos adversely implicating the judge to corruption.
“I have just filed my official JSC complaint for [the] removal of Chitembwe” Sonko told Capital FM News.
His aide Francis Wambua also filed another petition with JSC urging it to investigate the conduct of the judge while handling two petitions filed at the High court claiming he received bribes to influence the outcome.
“That the learned Judge used his office as if it was an enterprise and the receipt of bribes by him enabled him to package judgments specifically for the bribers and this is against the spirit of the Constitution and the law,” Wambua claims in the petition. He alleged that the bribes were channeled through the judges’ brother Amana Saidi Jirani.
The petitions, which add onto others filed earlier by other petitioners come 2 days after the JSC gave Chitembwe two weeks to respond to petitions already filed for his removal.
Chief Justice Martha Koome, who chairs the commission, wrote to the judge on Monday, asking him to file his responses within 14 days.
“Upon deliberations, the JSC has resolved that the petitions be served upon the honourable judge for his response within 14 days of service,” CJ Koome said in the letter to Justice Chitembwe.
Thereafter, she said, the petition and the judges’ response will be considered by a panel that has been set up by the commission.
Chitembwe has been at the centre of a storm in the Judiciary after petitions were filed questioning his integrity after viral videos on social media.
The video leaks posted on social media by Sonko have raised serious integrity questions on Justice Chitembwe who has since downplayed them insisting that they have been edited and manipulated to malign his name.
“I am just an individual and I was not born in the Judiciary. I am Muslim and if your risk is finished you will go. I believe in God, I am not insisting that I have to remain in the Judiciary but I will not be pushed to step aside because of false allegations,” he said during an interview on KTN News on Wednesday.
Justice Chitembwe who was vetted for the position of Chief Justice in April 2021 has accused Sonko of pursuing a personal vendetta against him. The recent videos were posted by Sonko.
