Judge Disqualifies Self From Tunoi, Rawal Retirement Case

A judge has disqualified himself from a case touching on his two colleagues citing conflict of interest.

Supreme Court judge Mohammed Ibrahim disqualified himself from a case where his two colleagues, Judges Kalpana Rawal and Philip Tunoi, have appealed over a verdict reached by the High court that they should retire at 70 years.

“Due to the conflict of interest and the oath of office I took, I disqualify myself from this case,” he said on Tuesday.

Rawal and Tunoi have moved to the Supreme Court to challenge the lower court’s decision. They argue that they were hired under the old constitution which allowed judges to retire at 74.

The current constitution requires that judges retire when they hit 70 years.

A bench of five judges headed by Chief Justice Willy Mutunga is expected to make a decision whether they have grounds to hear the two judges’ appeal.