When former registrar of the Judiciary Gladys Shollei stood in the dock to answer to charges of abuse of office last month, the picture painted was that of a subdued woman, a stranger to the once-powerful, fire-spitting Judiciary executive that she was.
Shollei has the subject of investigations regarding corruption and abuse of office since she was ejected out of her powerful post about two years ago.
And two months ago, an embattled Shollei sneaked out of the country in an attempt to escape the inevitability of the charges she is now facing, but was soon to return when it became apparent that no amount of running was going to protect her from facing justice.
When she came back, she was promptly served and required to appear in court to answer to abuse of office charges – six of her co-accused had taken pleas on August 5. Among the charges she is facing is the irregular procurement of the Chief Justice’s residence at a cost of Sh310 million.
Shollei denied improperly conferring a benefit to Nduya Muthama Holdings Limited from whom the Chief Justice’s Runda residence was purchased.
When the charges were read to her, she denied engaging in a project without prior planning, failing to comply with the law on tendering and for going against the recommendation of the evaluation committee on accepting the lowest bid for the residence.
Shollei is charged alongside her former deputy Kakai Kissinger and five former members of the Judiciary’s tender committee who approved the purchase.
Shollei took a plea of not guilty and was released on a Sh600,000 cash bail, pending hearing on the 7th of this month.
The former registrar has often cited ‘political nemeses’ as being behind her tribulations about what she terms as perceived political ambitions, insisting that all her the decisions she took were ‘above board’.^
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