Justice Nambuye acknowledges delaying rulings during CJ vetting

The first of the two candidates hoping to make history as Kenya’s first woman Chief Justice was interviewed Friday.

But Appellate Judge Roselyne Naliaka Nambuye, who promised to prioritise a more efficient Judiciary, found herself in the dock over claims that she is notorious for delayed judgments.

From where she sits, Lady Justice Roselyne Nambuye considers the backlog of cases as a key challenge confronting the Judiciary, yet by her own admission, she is part of the problem.

She says she is known for delayed judgment in her thirty-eight-year career as Judge, both at the High Court and the Court of Appeal, but in her quest to be Chief Justice – the first ever female one at that – would delayed judgments be a factor?

But her journey has hard some rough and tumble along the way. Back in 2003, she was one of the judges, alongside her husband, who were suspended in the radical surgery of the judiciary spearheaded by Aaron Ringera.

“I was branded as a corrupt judge, the two of us as a judicial couple, I said let me face the tribunal and I was not charged with corruption but inability to perform. I developed acidity and high blood pressure as a result of the long hours on an empty stomach, post the 2003 experience,” said Nambuye.

Should she be the first female CJ, she would be keen to ensure judicial officers are handled better during instances that question their integrity.

And with her eye on the operations of other arms of government, the judge believes the law barring party hopping, is unconstitutional.