Editor's Review

According to Mudavadi, the JSC is at liberty to hire Chebukati as the chief justice if he qualifies for it.

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has told off the opposition over its lamentation on the likelihood of former IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati taking over from Martha Koome as the chief justice.

In a recent presser, Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga claimed that President William Ruto was preparing Chebukati for the post before 2027.

According to Raila, the foregoing was the agenda of Ruto’s recent meeting with Koome at State House.

Reacting to the claims, Mudavadi argued that the former IEBC chairman would be in his right to assume the post should he declare interest and convince the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.

"The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is independent and has a right to recruit anybody qualified. It’s wrong for Azimio to start determining who the JSC should recruit,” he said.

The Prime CS added that it was in the place of the JSC to decide who fits to be the CJ, not politicians.

"You can’t tell us that a son of the soil if they are interested even if it is Chebukati or who. If he put his bid for the position of a judge, that’s the responsibility of JSC not politicians," he said.

Mudavadi spoke on Sunday, February 4, in Kakamega where had accompanied the president, and other ranking leaders, among them National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula, to an interdenominational church service.