JSC defends judicial accountability record as LSK court boycott looms
Key points
- JSC says disciplinary work on judicial officers is already underway.
- LSK has signalled a boycott of court proceedings over accountability concerns.
- CJ Koome has publicly defended the Judiciary amid the standoff.
- A prolonged boycott would hit ordinary litigants hardest.
The Judicial Service Commission has defended its record on judicial accountability and spoken against a Law Society of Kenya move to boycott court proceedings, arguing that concerns about integrity must be weighed against the damage a walkout would cause to litigants.
Capital FM reported that the JSC described accountability worries as legitimate while insisting its disciplinary pipeline should be judged in context. Nation.Africa separately quoted Chief Justice Martha Koome defending the Judiciary as LSK signalled it would sustain pressure.
Boycotts by advocates are a high-stakes tactic: they can force political attention onto delayed judgments, perceived capture or welfare disputes, but they also freeze divorce decrees, commercial injunctions, criminal bail applications and land cases that ordinary Kenyans need resolved.
Kenya’s Constitution vests disciplinary power over judges and magistrates in the JSC, not in the bar association. That institutional design is why the Commission’s public messaging emphasises process — petitions filed, tribunals constituted, officers interdicted — rather than street pressure.
Still, public trust is earned in courtrooms, not press releases. If litigants believe justice is for sale, no amount of formal process will calm the bar. The coming days will show whether JSC and LSK can open a structured dialogue before hearing lists empty.
Litigants with urgent matters should check cause lists daily and speak to their advocates about contingency filings if boycott notices firm up.
Sources: Capital FM · Nation.Africa. This report paraphrases publicly available reporting; it does not republish third-party full text.
