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Lawyer Ahmednasir sues Kenya's Supreme Court at the East African Court of Justice

Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi during a past court appearance.

By Joseph Ndunda | Wednesday, March 20, 2024

The lawyer is also seeking Sh200 million in damages for violation of his rights from Kenya's Apex court for barring him from addressing it.

Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi has sued Kenya's Supreme Court at the East African Court of Justice for banning him, his firm and anyone representing him from appearing before it following his harsh criticisms.

The lawyer, a former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) chairman, is seeking Sh200 million in damages for the violation of his rights following this decision of Kenya's apex court. He has listed all the Supreme Court judges, including Chief Justice Martha Koome, and the attorney-general as the respondents in the suit.

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The Supreme Court barred Ahmednasir from addressing it, citing his continued attacks on judges and the judiciary and accusing him of maligning it through his opinions and social media posts.

In a letter to the lawyer, Supreme Court Registrar Letizia Wachira said the judges instructed her to inform Ahmednasir that he would never have an audience before the court.

A complete seven-judge panel of the apex court declared, in an official statement, that it was untenable for the lawyer to pursue justice within the same institution and before the very judges whose reputation and integrity he consistently undermines.

"Much as this decision is bound to affect those who may have instructed you to represent them before the court, it is untenable that you would seek justice in the very institution and before the very judges whose reputation and integrity you never tire of assaulting," the Supreme Court judges said.

The court accused the lawyer of conducting a broadcast, print, and social media campaign, accusing it and its judges of corruption, incompetence, and outright bribery.

"This you have done with reckless abandon, paying scant regard to the reputations of those who tirelessly serve on the court in accordance with their oath of office," the court said.

Koome has denied the corruption allegations and termed them baseless, noting they should be backed by evidence.

In his response on X, the senior counsel termed the ban “a badge of honour and once again described the Supreme Court as "corrupt," noting the first time he was refused an audience was in 2000 when he was ejected and told not to return.

He added that the ban amounted to misuse of public power in that no person or body, other than parliament, can make provisions like the ones in the judges' statements, banning an advocate indefinitely.

"The decision of the court on January 23, by the judges on their recusal, which was also arrived at without affording the applicant an opportunity to be heard, demonstrated the embedded legal pattern of strained pronouncements and decisions by the Supreme Court concerning the applicant," the suit papers state.

"The decision is another installment of an unacceptable degree of bending the law of recusal of the Supreme Court that undermines public confidence in it as a symbol of ultimate juristic authority in Kenya."

Former LSK President Erick Theuri, who was among the many lawyers who reacted to the top court's move, termed it "illegal and a landmark example of abuse of power".

He argued that the court should have filed a case before it, granting Ahmednasir the right to respond.