The Supreme Court has castigated lawyers Ahmednasir Abdullahi and Nelson Havi over their social media comments regarding the court.
Speaking on Thursday while delivering the ruling on BBI, Chief Justice Martha Koome said that the commentaries by the lawyers were meant to influence, intimidate or scandalize the court.
CJ Koome maintained that the unfortunate practice was emerging and unless it was checked, it would erode the confidence and dignity of the court.
She said that the lawyers should refrain from directly or indirectly trying to improperly influence the court to rule in one way or the other.
“Once judgements have been reserved and judges retreated to consider submissions and write judgements, learned counsel Mr. Nelson Havi and Ms. Esther Ang’awa who appeared for the first and fifth respondents took to the social media (Twitter) on different occasions,” CJ Koome stated.
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The Chief Justice said that it was unethical for the lawyers to hurl unnecessary insults on a pending judgement even after appearing before the apex court.
“Equally culpable is the conduct of the senior counsel Mr. Ahmednasir Abdullahi who though not counsel appearing in this matter took the lead role in disparaging the court as evident from his posts on Twitter on February 8, February 15, and March 29,” CJ Koome said.
Lawyers Havi and Ahmednasir have been active on social media sharing divergent opinions before the BBI Bill was declared unconstitutional on Thursday.
“In the bbi case nobody knew what the 5 judges of the High Court will rule. In the Court of Appeal no one knew what the 7 judges of the court will rule.For the Supreme Court judgment most Kenyans and all politicians are discussing the finer details of the 7 judges' judgment...SAD!” Ahmednasir tweeted on February 29.
