Appellate judge David Maraga has assured human rights activists and the public who present genuine grievances in court that they will get swift redress if he is given the chance to be the next Chief Justice.
He told the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) that Kenyans chose a very liberal Constitution that safeguards fundamental rights and freedoms and the Judiciary has the responsibility to protect them from breaching.
“Not every grievance presented in court deserves redress, but any person is free to petition courts about the violation of their rights but must present solid and convincing grounds upon which the necessary orders can be given,” Justice Maraga told the nine-member panel during his interview for the CJ job at the Supreme Court yesterday.
Maraga said judges were expected to scrutinise public interest cases and ensure rival parties did not use proxies to fight their wars in court. “You cannot direct individual judges on how to handle cases, but certainly, litigants must come to court on solid grounds and evidence,” he said.
He was responding to concerns raised by the Attorney General Githu Muigai that some individuals and enterprises had resorted to sponsoring self-styled crusaders and lobby groups to file commercial disputes, especially those involving contentious lucrative tenders at national and county levels.
Unjustifiable suits by pretenders deserve dismissal, he emphasised. However, Maraga excused himself from explaining how errant judges should be dealt with since he is chair of a tribunal appointed by the President to probe alleged misconduct by suspended High Court judge Joseph Mutava.
The panel will this morning interview senior counsel Nzamba Kitonga, who is also the former chairman of the Committee of Experts that drafted the Constitution. He was a former chairman of the Law Society of Kenya.
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