Mohammed Ibrahim replaces Mutunga as CJ on an interim basis

Supreme Court Judge Mohammed Ibrahim has been named the interim Chief Justice following the exit of Dr Willy Mutunga after serving a five-year term.

During his farewell speech, Mutunga expressed confidence in those left behind saying that they are competent enough to take up the vacuum he leaves.

“I leave behind a versatile, confident and competent collective leadership in the institution, which has confronted every challenge thrown its way with resolve and finality,” said Mutunga.

Justice Mohammed Ibrahim was named the acting Chief Justice by the virtue of being the senior most judge in Supreme Court and lack of a Deputy Chief Justice following the decision by the court to retire Kalpana Rawal.

“Hon. Justice Mohammed Ibrahim will preside over the Supreme Court pursuant to Section 6 (2) of Supreme Court Act.”

Mutunga further named Justice Paul Kihara as the head of the Court of Appeal and Justice Richard Mwongo as the head of High Court.

“The Court of Appeal will be overseen by the President of that Court, Hon. Justice Paul Kihara Kariuki, and the High Court will be under the leadership of the Principal Judge of the High Court, Hon. Justice Richard Mwongo.”

Ms. Anne Amadi will, however, remain as the Judiciary Chief Registrar and in charge as the accounting officer and chief administrator of the Judiciary.

Justices Mohamed, Kariuki and Mwongo, together with Ms Amadi will also serve as the Judiciary Leadership Advisory Council (JLAC) members.

“This team constitutes the Judiciary Leadership Advisory Council (JLAC), and will offer directions on the operations of each court. The Judiciary could not have been in a crisis when every court station in the country, including the Supreme Court, was sitting every day to do what the Judiciary is supposed to do: hear and determine disputes,” noted Mutunga.

“The task of managing the transition rests with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), a task it is so overwhelmingly qualified to execute, and for which it has already debated and prepared a comprehensive transition plan.”

Mutunga, who was set to retire next year, opted for an early retirement saying that he wanted to allow JSC enough time to recruit his replacement before the next year’s General Election.