After a tumultuous term as president of Law Society of Kenya (LSK), Nelson Havi has exited two months to the end of his tenure.

Also leaving office with Havi is the Secretary and chief executive Mercy Wambua who now remains an ordinary LSK employee.

The removal of Havi and other council members comes after they failed to comply with court orders to hold a meeting and deliberate on matters relating to the society following wrangles that had crippled the operations at the lawyer’s lobby.

The court had given Havi, the secretariat and council members 21 days to hold either a virtual or physical meeting to address differences affecting the society.

In his ruling delivered on December 20, Justice Anthony Mrima ordered that failure by the council to conduct the meeting within the set timelines, would see the branch chairs caucus take over the role of the Council for the remainder of its term.

“Once the Branch Chairs Caucus takes over the role of the Council aforesaid, none of the current members of the Council shall in any manner whatsoever deal with any of the affairs of the Law Society of Kenya in their respective capacities as members of the Council and/or the Secretary, as the case may be,” Mrima said in his ruling.

New officials

“If the Branch Chairs Caucus takes over the role of the Council, the chairperson thereof shall preside over all general meetings of the Society and shall exercise the powers of the President of the Law Society of Kenya including being the Spokesperson of the Society for the remainder of the term of the Council,” he further ruled.

Havi’s position has been taken over by Linda Kiome, the Mt Kenya Branch Caucus chair, who was elected in a meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting called by LSK Branch Chairs Caucus gave Kiome the powers to lead the society due to the impending retirement of the chair Mathew Nyabena.

“In our meeting today, we received confirmation from the LSK Secretariat that the Council has been unable to convene a meeting in compliance with the directions given by the court.

In default thereof and pursuant to the said decision, the Branch Chairs Caucus has with effect from the 11th January 2022 taken charge of the role of the Council for the remainder of the term of the Council,” the LSK branch chairs said in a statement.

Today, the new LSK leadership will hold a meeting at the LSK Secretariat offices to discuss the management of the Society with a view of ensuring the smooth running of the Secretariat and delivery of services to members.

Havi was elected LSK president on February 27, 2020. Under the society’s laws, the president serves a one two-year term and his was due to end next month.

Havi has been embroiled in numerous court and supremacy battles pitting him and Chief Executive Wambua.

He has also been involved in wrangles with members, leading to the stalemate with the Council. The stalemate at the society also led to many court cases, some relating to the ouster of Wambua. 

Wambua was, however, reinstated by Justice Mrima.

Havi had been accused of orchestrating Wambua’s ejection as the two had a frosty working relationship that led to the rise of splinter groups in LSK.

Havi intends to vie for the Westlands parliamentary seat in the August election on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket.