Chief Justice David Maraga on Thursday said that the new Executive Order issued by President Uhuru Kenyatta has no effect on the Judiciary and Judicial Service Commission.
The Executive Order No.1 of 2020 was issued on Wednesday evening, June 3, to reorganize the national government and reassign functions and institutions among ministries and state departments.
President Kenyatta said the order is to supersede an earlier one that he issued in July 2018.
“The Judiciary and the Judicial Service Commission are established under Chapter 10 of the Constitution. The Order cannot “restructure” or “assign” functions to the other co-equal and co-substantial arms of government and independent commission. An Executive Order cannot “restructure” or “assign” functions to the Judiciary or the Chief Justice,” said CJ Maraga.
In the new order, the JSC was listed among institutions in The State Law Office and the Department of Justice.
“While the Executive Order has no legal effect as the Constitution is clear about the creation of the Judiciary and the JSC and their authority and functions, it is important that the public understands, for the sake of our constitutional democracy, that both the Judiciary and the JSC are independent organs which are neither assigned functions nor derive authority from the Executive branch of government,” said the CJ.
As such, Maraga has urged the Executive to issue a correction, noting that the oversight is an error.
“I want to believe that this was an inadvertent error and that the office of the President will promptly issue a correction,” said Maraga in his response shared on social media on Thursday, June 4.
In the new changes, the Nairobi Metropolitan Services has been placed under the Executive Office of the President following the transfer of some roles from the Nairobi County government.
