Chief Justice David Maraga has defended the independence and autonomy of the Judiciary and the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) as an arm of government after an Executive Order issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta and revealed on Wednesday listed the JSC, Judiciary among Ministries, State Departments, Constitutional commissions.
The Executive Order No. 1 of 2020 titled “The Organization of Government” and dated May 11 2020 further places the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) under the Executive Office of the President. In a statement on Wednesday, CJ Maraga acknowledged that the President has the power to direct and coordinate government ministries and departments, and it’s only applicable to the Executive arm of government. “The Judiciary is neither a Ministry nor a government department which can be organized by an Executive order..an Executive order can’t “restructure” or “assign” functions to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) or its chairman,” he said.
He said the Constitution directly creates the JSC and assigns its powers and functions and that the order can only apply to the Executive arm of government, “I want to believe that this was an inadvertent error and that the Office of the President will promptly issue a correction.”