Shollei hits back over sacking by Judicial Service Commission

Gladys Shollei yesterday stepped up her battle against the Judicial Service Commission, rebutting claims that she had admitted to some of the charges involving the alleged loss of Sh2.2 billion from the Judiciary Fund.

Mrs Shollei maintained that the Judiciary had not lost any money as claimed by the JSC and that she was merely a victim of vendetta by some of commissioners who have been against her fight for reforms.

“I want to repeat at this early stage that the Judiciary has not lost any money and there has been no corruption in the Judiciary under my watch,” she said. While announcing Mrs Shollei’s sacking last Friday, the JSC had said that she had admitted to 33 allegations in which Sh1.7 billion was lost and denied 38 allegations involving Sh250 million.

“Her responses to the alleged role in activities that led to the loss of Sh361 million were not clear,” Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said.

Mrs Shollei said personal vendetta was the reason the commission had denied her a fair hearing and the right to appeal its preliminary decision.
The former chief registrar has been embroiled in a bitter war with the JSC for the past two months over alleged misconduct on her part. In August, the JSC suspended Mrs Shollei for two weeks to allow investigations, but she quickly moved to the High Court, seeking to stop the investigation and contest the suspension.

She later withdrew the suit and was reinstated, ostensibly as part of an out-of court deal she reached with the JSC.

But on September 9, the JSC served Mrs Shollei with 87 allegations involving financial and human resource mismanagement, irregularities and illegalities in procurement and misbehaviour.

Mrs Shollei accused four JSC members of witch hunt targeted at her and other Judiciary employees.

“This is the truth about what happened last week. The JSC never heard me,” she said yesterday.

She said that when she met the commissioners last week she requested that four JSC members excuse themselves from the hearing due to what she called their biases and impartiality. She also sought assurances from Dr Mutunga that there was no war against her and sought to call witnesses besides questioning JSC’s jurisdiction to probe her.

“All the above requests were declined. My lawyers requested for the ruling on the above issues in order to allow us to use their decision on those preliminary issues in court but they declined” Mrs Shollei said, adding that she was shocked to learn of her sacking two hours later.

Dr Mutunga yesterday termed Mrs Shollei’s response to her sacking as a continuation of a smear campaign against the Judiciary.

“The commission observes that the smear campaign fuelled by misinformation, distortion and outright lies that characterised the two-month disciplinary process against her continues. Time has come for the JSC to begin telling truths about the former Chief Registrar of the Judiciary,” Dr Mutunga said in a statement. “The fight against corruption is not a public relations exercise; it is a serious undertaking based only on the facts. The JSC’s findings on the allegations against the former CRJ and her responses are available to the media and will be posted on the Judiciary website (www.judiciary.go.ke) tomorrow.

As promised last Friday, the commission will engage with all stakeholders, including Parliament and the public, to explain its findings and decisions in the coming days.”

Mrs Shollei denied flouting procurement rules while leasing premises, insisting that all the tenders were awarded competitively.

She claimed that the JSC commissioners lacked expertise to investigate the weighty financial matters raised against her and accused them of turning down her request to involve the Auditor-General, Public Procurement Oversight Authority and the Anti-Corruption and Ethics Commission in the probe.

She accused Dr Mutunga of writing a backdated letter to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission asking it to commence investigations against her.

Last week, Dr Mutunga said allegations raised against Mrs Shollei were grave and very serious and that JSC had invited EACC to carry out further investigations.

The battle appears to be headed to Parliament and the courts after Mrs Shollei said she was in discussion with her lawyers and family to decide on the next course of action.

Mrs Shollei last week appeared before a Parliamentary committee and revealed that JSC members had drawn millions of shillings in allowances in the past two years.

The Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs has summoned JSC members Ahmednasir Abdullahi, Emily Ominde, Samuel Kobia, Mohammed Warsame, Christine Mango and Florence Mwangangi to individually appear before it.

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