Court of Appeal Judge Justice Katwa Kigen has defended his bid to join the Supreme Court of Kenya, just three months after taking the oath of office in his current role.
Appearing before the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) panel Tuesday afternoon, Kigen argued that eligibility for the country’s apex court is grounded in competence rather than time served at the Court of Appeal.
This followed a question by Chief Justice Martha Koome, who sought to understand why he had applied for the position despite his short tenure as a Court of Appeal judge.
Kigen, however, dismissed the concerns, maintaining that the recruitment process should not be viewed as a promotion ladder but as a constitutional assessment of suitability to serve in the Supreme Court of Kenya.
“I have come here for evaluation as to whether or not I’m eligible for appointment to the Supreme Court, and that eligibility is not a question of promotion, it is a question of whether I’m qualified,” he said.
“The fact that I may have recently been before you should not be a factor because I’m not here for a promotion, I’m here for you to assess whether I’m competent.”
Justice Kigen, who was among lawyers who represented President William Ruto at the International Criminal Court (ICC), was also pressed to explain whether his past role could affect his impartiality in the event of a presidential election petition after the 2027 polls.
He noted that his past client relationship with the Head of State should not count against him, saying his judicial conduct would be guided strictly by facts and the law.
According to Kigen, many judges elevated to the bench previously represented clients in private practice without attracting similar scrutiny.
“I intend to be as objective and neutral in the discharge of my functions as a judge. I want to give the assurance that I’ll be fair and I would only deal with facts and law. To distinguish me just because of one client… would probably not be quite fair,” he said.
Kigen said recusal remains an available mechanism in the event a conflict of interest arises, though he stressed it should remain a last resort.
“My relationship with His Excellency is not that I always said yes to everything he wanted… it has never taken my objectivity away,” he stated.
“There are measures if anybody is concerned about my sitting on the bench. There are provisions for how that can be handled, including recusal, and I’m aware that some presidential petitions have been done with less than the totality of the seven Supreme Court judges.”
Kigen is among five candidates seeking to fill a vacancy at the Supreme Court following the death of Justice Mohamed Ibrahim in December last year.
He was also among 14 Court of Appeal judges who were sworn into office on January 28.
