The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that elected members to the Judicial Service Commission must not be vetted and approved by the National Assembly.
Only those Commissioners of the JSC upon whom there is a constitutional obligation for vetting before appointment have to be approved by Parliament, a five-judge bench of the court ruled.
The court further held that section 15(2) of the JSC Act is inconsistent with the law as is donated power to the President to appoint elected and nominated members of the JSC.
“Section 15(2) goes against the letter and spirit of Articles 1(3) and 2(2) which stipulate that sovereign power delegated to State organs, must be exercised strictly in accordance with the Constitution and that no person may claim or exercise State authority except as authorised under the Constitution.”
However, in her dissenting opinion, Justice Njoki Ndungu differed with four of her colleagues.
