LSK Chief Executive Officer Mercy Wambua has dismissed the move by a section of lawyers to remove her and other council members from office on Saturday.
Wambua said her purported removal was illegal and a nullity that won’t affect her service at the society’s Gatanga Road-based office.
Some members of the society assembled at its head office in Nairobi on Saturday in a special general meeting to discuss Wambua's tenure and audit of the lobby’s accounts.
Some 118 members voted to send Wambua on a compulsory leave to pave way for recruitment of her replacement in 45 days. Sixteen members voted against the motion.
Thirty-three of the 118 were physically present at the Gatanga Road offices. Eighty-five members raised their hands in a virtual conference. The 16 who sided with Wambua also voted virtually.
The meeting also voted to send all the current council members packing, replacing all of them with a new set of lawyers.
Wambua told the Star the meeting itself was an illegality and unprocedural, hence, no action at the meeting as the force of law.
“Come to office on Monday, you’ll find me working. I’m going nowhere,” she said.
Council members removed by the disputed Saturday meeting include Bernhard Ng’etich, Ndinda Kinyili, Riziki Emukule, George Omwansa, Aluso Ingati, Faith Odhiambo, Beth Michoma and Carolyne Mutheu.
LSK president Nelson Havi announced that the newly installed members included Clarise Mmbone Osore, George Kamau, Emmanuel Kyobika, Levi Munyeri, Miyawa Maxwel, Jane Odiya, Bonbegi Gesicho and Jamlick Murithi.
But the purportedly sacked council members said they will remain in office and, "The council will not be liable for any transactions undertaken by the illegally imposed persons.”
"This is to notify members of the Law Society of Kenya and the general public that no legally sanctioned Special General Meeting has been held....the CEO of the Law Society of Kenya is appointed by the Council and continues to be in office, their statement said.
Section 23(1) of the LSK Act of 2014 requires that if new persons are to be installed as council members, president or vice president of the society, a vacancy has to be declared by the CEO and elections held within 90 days.
The election envisaged in the act is to be supervised by an independent electoral agency settled on by the council.
Wambua also told the Star that she remain in office on the strength of a court order that in December 2020 blocked any attempts by the society’s council to sack her.
“I’m not hired by a special general meeting, but by a council. Anything else is inconsequential,” she said.
Power struggles at the lawyers’ society started in September 2020 when the council suspended Wambua from office to investigate her conduct. But by a 9-4 majority, the council voted to reinstate her in October 2020, clearing her of all charges of incompetence and abuse of office.
But Havi, society’s vice-president Carolyne Kamende, council members Esther Ang’awa and Herine Kebita insisted she had to leave office, terming her a stranger.
Wambua has since obtained conservatory court orders to block any arbitrary ejection from office.
(Edited by V. Graham)