Commission seeks to block Justice Lenaolas appointment

The National Gender and Equality Commission filed a petition in the High Court on Wednesday seeking to block the appointment of Justice Isaac Lenaola to the Supreme Court to replace retired judge Philip Tunoi.

High Court judge Joseph Onguto certified the case as urgent but declined to issues orders stopping the appointment and gazetting of Justice Lenaola as a Supreme Court judge.

The Gender Commission wants the court to rescind the appointment of the High Court judge arguing that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) failed to consider the two-thirds gender principle.

In court documents seen by Citizen Digital, the Gender Commission’s chairperson Wilfred Osimbo Lichuma told the court that Justice Lenaola’s nomination was made in violation of  the Constitution.

Further, the commission claims that on July 15th this year, it wrote an advisory opinion to the JSC on the gender issue through its secretary and the Chief Registrar Anne Amadi.

On Tuesday, the JSC nominated Justice Isaac Lenaola to the Supreme Court bench to replace retired judge Philip Tunoi after beating 21 other applicants for the position.

His nomination brought to an end the JSC’s process to replace three positions that were left vacant after the former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga went on early retirement while the former Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and Justice Philip Tunoi were forced to retire after attaining the age of 70.

The Gender Commission’s case will be heard next week on Wednesday.