Sonko Renews Push To Remove CJ Koome From Office

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has revived his campaign to have Chief Justice Martha Koome removed from office, demanding answers over a three-year delay in processing his petition to the Judicial Service Commission.

In a strongly worded letter dated November 24, 2025, Sonko expressed frustration at what he termed an inexplicable silence from the JSC over a complaint he filed on July 21, 2022, seeking the removal of the country’s top judge.

The former governor claims the commission has not issued any communication, update, directions or hearing date since his petition was officially received and stamped on July 22, 2022.

“More than three and a half years later, we have not received any response from the Commission,” Sonko wrote to the JSC Secretariat at Pension Towers, attaching a copy of the acknowledged petition as evidence.

The petition was filed at the height of Sonko’s legal troubles following his impeachment by the Senate. In it, he accuses Justice Koome of gross misconduct, bias and constitutional violations in handling his appeal at the Supreme Court.

Central to Sonko’s grievances is the Supreme Court judgment that upheld his impeachment and barred him from contesting the 2022 Mombasa gubernatorial race.

He argues the ruling was delivered after what he describes as an unfair and rushed process that denied him adequate time to file submissions.

Sonko alleges Justice Koome compromised judicial neutrality through remarks made during a Spice FM interview, suggesting she had formed an opinion on his case before the Supreme Court made its determination.

He further claims the Chief Justice misled his lawyers about the composition of the bench hearing his appeal and refused to recuse herself despite an apparent conflict of interest.

CJ Martha Koome.

Correspondence between Sonko’s legal team and the Supreme Court reveals administrative confusion in the handling of the case.

On July 12, 2022, the Judiciary admitted to issuing incomplete directions and apologized for the oversight.

However, just one day later, the court summoned Sonko for a hearing scheduled for July 14, 2022.

Sonko received the notice while in Mombasa, where a High Court bench had just cleared him to contest for governor.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission had officially approved his candidacy following that ruling.

The former governor questions why the Supreme Court hurriedly fixed his hearing for the very next day, arguing that neither he nor other parties were given time to file submissions or participate in selecting an appropriate hearing date.

His legal team was still in Mombasa when the notice was issued.

“What was the hurry for? The High Court had just ruled that I should be allowed to vie since I had not exhausted my appeal options. Then on the same day, the Supreme Court fixed the next day to determine my case. Who was pushing them? Why were they in such a rush? We were never given a chance to file submissions,” Sonko stated.

After the Supreme Court upheld his impeachment and effectively blocked him from the Mombasa race despite IEBC clearance, Sonko took his fight to the East African Court of Justice.

The regional court later found procedural violations in the Supreme Court’s handling of his impeachment proceedings.

The EACJ ruled that Sonko’s impeachment process violated his right to a fair trial, citing possible breaches of the Kenyan Constitution and the East African Community Treaty.

While the court did not overturn the Supreme Court’s decision, it sharply criticized procedural flaws that undermined the credibility of the impeachment.

The regional court noted that permanently barring Sonko from holding public office inflicted irreparable harm on his political career and reputation, emphasizing that such a severe penalty demanded unquestionable fairness.

Armed with the EACJ findings, Sonko is now pressing the JSC to act on his petition against Justice Koome. He is seeking clarity on whether his complaint has been processed, dismissed or scheduled for deliberation, urging the commission to respond urgently.

The former governor’s renewed push comes at a time when the Judiciary has faced multiple petitions seeking the removal of senior judges. However, several such petitions have been dismissed in recent months for failing to meet the constitutional threshold for removal proceedings.

The JSC had not responded to Sonko’s latest letter by the time of publication.