High Court judge Chacha Mwita may have to defend himself before the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) after a petition was filed seeking his ouster. 

Justice Mwita has come under pressure over a ruling in which he ordered police to give back businessman Jimmy Wanjigi his guns, which had been confiscated at his Muthaiga home in October 2017.

The petitioner, Zack Kinuthia, wants the commission, chaired by Chief Justice David Maraga to convict the judge of “incompetence and amounting to a violation of the Constitution, gross misconduct and breach of the Judicial Code of Conduct and Ethics and Oath of Office”   

Detectives raided Wanjigi’s residence and confiscated four Glock pistols, one Smith & Wesson pistol, a Mini Archer assault rifle fitted with a laser, an M4CQ assault rifle and 646 bullets on grounds that he was holding them illegally.

Valid license 

But Chacha, in his judgment, which he delivered on June 21 this year, said the State acted irrationally by carting away the businessman’s guns while he still held a valid license to keep the same.

“The plaintiff’s rights were violated by the respondents. The actions of the respondents were unlawful and actuated by malice.  The court grants orders that all firearms be returned to the plaintiff,” he said.

However, Kinuthia, a Political Science graduate and also a Third-Year Law student, disagreed with the ruling claiming Chacha entrenched an illegality by allowing the guns, back into hands of the businessman.

The commission, he said should consider his claims and subsequently initiate the necessary procedures for Chacha’s removal from office, and also recommend to President Uhuru Kenyatta to establish a Tribunal to investigate and make its determinations on his petition.

Kinuthia in his petition argues that retaining Chacha in his job will only serve to further dent the image of the Judiciary which is grappling with graft claims and therefore, “nothing short of removal from office will be sufficient to redeem the image and restore the dignity of the Judiciary in Kenya”.

His bone of contention is that the judge ordered the return of assault rifle make M4CQ serial number CN 005433/13 and assault Rifle make Mini Archer Serial number 2013/MILL, weapons, he said, are categorised as prohibited under the Firearms Act. They are firearm not to be found even in the average police station.

He added that the licensing Board committed an illegality in permitting Wanjigi to own the guns, and the judge ought to have corrected the mistake by ordering their forfeiture to the State.

“(The) judge demonstrated a lack of integrity defined by discharge of duty in a manner that is beyond reproach in the eyes of a reasonable observer, fidelity to the rule of law and competence in discharge of judicial function,” he said.