Four former presidents of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) have called for the resignation of Chief Justice Martha Koome, accusing the Judiciary of widespread corruption that has obstructed access to justice.
Dr Gibson Kamau Kuria, Paul Muite, Ahmednasir Abdullahi, and Nelson Havi expressed concern on Friday over the growing use of fake court orders, particularly in land disputes, leading to illegal evictions.
Dr Kuria stated, “We have reached a point in this country where there is no longer the rule of law but the rule of money. People are buying court orders from judges, and this is being normalised.” He also described incidents where clients had faced flawed rulings, allegedly influenced by bribery.
The senior counsels warned that the situation was deteriorating, with some judicial officers reportedly upholding forged documents to facilitate land theft. “We are greatly troubled by decisions that question the very purpose of a title deed,” Dr Kuria added.
The lawyers also rejected an invitation from CJ Koome to meet and discuss the concerns, with Mr Abdullahi accusing the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) of shielding corrupt judges.
The advocates have urged Kenyans to gather and submit evidence of judicial corruption to LSK’s “data bank” for further action, rather than reporting it to the JSC, citing a lack of trust in the institution.
Read the full (PDF) statement here.
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