JSC, Chief Justice sued in row over move to publish individual judges' performance

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) bid to ensure individual judges’ accountability by publishing their output will not pass without a battle.

This is after a case was filed on Wednesday, challenging the move for allegedly posing a risk of exposing judges to public ridicule and harassment.

Chief Justice Martha Koome said that the commission had decided to make public the output of each judge for accountability and to enhance performance.

However, Duncun Kariuki, in his case filed before the High Court, faulted the move, saying that it was not anchored on any law or rules.

His lawyer, Harun Njoroge, claimed that the report ought to have been released by July 15, 2026.

He was of the view that the JSC was usurping the role of the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, who is allegedly the custodian of the data in question.

Kariuki sued the JSC, the CJ, the National Council on the Administration of Justice, and the Judiciary’s spokesperson Paul Ndemo.

He also cited the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, the Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association, the Kenya Judges Welfare Association, the International Association of Women Judges, Kenya Chapter and the Kenya Judicial Staff Association as interested parties.

His lawyer said that it was unclear who would be held liable for any breach once the data had been published.

“The intended publication exposes Judges and Judicial Officers to the real risk of ridicule, cyber harassment and other threats to their personal security and independence, thereby posing a direct threat to the administration of justice,” argued Njoroge.

According to him, the commission should let the wheels of justice grind as they are. Njoroge claimed that the move will result to judges turning litigation into judgments and ruling-churning machines without depth.

He also stated that each judge enjoys independence and individual security of tenure; hence, they ought to be allowed to handle cases without alleged external pressures.

“The mere publication of the data as intended by the first and second respondents absent of any policy or context shall create pressures on the part of the Judges and Judicial Officers where quantitative-based competition shall be created, threatening the qualitative attributes of the judgments, rulings and other determinations of disputes thus creating inappropriate or unwarranted interference with the judicial process by the first and second respondents,” argued Njoroge.

He asserted that judges are humans who would allegedly be prone to judicial stress if the directive is implemented.

The lawyer further said that there are unexpected and unregulated factors which also contribute to cases delaying before courts.

“The Nauru Declaration on Judicial Well-being recognizes that that the judiciary is made of human beings - individual and independent persons appointed to judicial office and therefore, the judiciary is fundamentally a human system, dependent upon the collective human capacities and faculties of individual judges and the intended unregulated, unpredictable and surreptitious acts of the first and second respondents are likely to cause judicial stress with a direct negative impact on the administration of justice,” he continued.

In his supporting affidavit, Kariuki claimed that the commission never gazetted the new directive. He claimed that it was allegedly clandestinely sneaked into the JSC interview for the Supreme Court Judge.

He maintained that the commission did not carry out public participation or consult the affected parties before making the public announcement.

Muriuki now wants the CJ and the Commission barred from releasing the report until the case is heard and determined.

At the same time, he wants the court to direct that the same cannot happen until regulations or rules are put in place for performance appraisal

“Without any such system, a vacuous blanket release of data of the individual Judges and Judicial Officers shall be nothing more than non-contextualized statistics which serves no purpose in whichever field and worst, serves no justice to any consumer of justice,” argued Kariuki.