A second judge has recused himself from the Nakuru War Memorial Hospital case as police continue to face criticism for ignoring court orders.
Justice Anthony Ombwayo of the Environment and Land Court transferred the case to a court of similar jurisdiction in Nairobi, where it will be heard.
The judge expressed disappointment with the police for failing to comply with the court's order to return control of the hospital to the owners until the case is decided.
Armed groups took over the facility after police temporarily took over control of the hospital from the county government.
Justice Ombwayo reiterated that court orders must be complied with and no government process should override them.
He insisted that officials should always strive to uphold the rule of law.
Justice Ombwayo said on Thursday: “The court's order must be complied with, but the reasons given to the court by the county police commander make no sense at all.”
He made the judgment while referring to the incident when Nakuru County Police Commander Samuel Ndani appeared in virtual court after being summoned.
Summoned to explain why a court order to restore the hospital has not been complied with, Ndani faces the dilemma of how to disband the miscreants who have taken over the facility from Askaris County due to its proximity. he claimed. Go to the Nakuru State House, which is a protected area.
Ndanyi told the court that police were unable to disperse the thugs with tear gas and bullets because the hospital was close to the state capitol, public hospitals and schools.
“If we had caused chaos to disperse the crowd, it would have been catastrophic,” he said.
But Judge Ombwayo rejected this argument, arguing that armed police could not control unruly youths.
The judge's dismissal came just 10 days after he took over the case from Justice Millicent O'Deney. Judge Odeniy took over the case for failing to comply with some of her orders.
At least seven orders related to the same issue issued by the court on different occasions were deemed to have been disobeyed.
Last October, Odeni brought up a case in which the county government forcibly took over the management of a hospital.
She issued her first order on Oct. 31, 2023, reversing the county government's action. This order was not followed.
On November 2, 2023, she issued an order directing Nakuru East Sub County Police Commander Martin Masika to assist the hospital management in gaining access to the facility. This was ignored after the hospital reopened, but was forced into control by the county 10 days later.
Following the county's decision to disobey an order to remove the enforcement team from the hospital, the court ordered the county police commander to facilitate the restoration of control by hospital management. This was ignored.
Another order issued by the same judge on January 30 was also ignored and she ordered Ndani to appear in court on February 1 to explain why she had failed to implement the order.
The judge then recused herself from the case, saying she was on vacation. The matter was referred to Mr Ombwayo, who subsequently withdrew from the case.
Appearing in court on Thursday, Ndaniyi said he sent police to the scene and visited the hospital on Wednesday but was unable to enter the facility because a large padlock was found at the entrance.
“We don't know who owns the hospital at this point because the gates of the hospital were locked and we couldn't get in,” he said.
The county police chief said the noisy crowd made it difficult to carry out the order, but police were stationed at the gates to enforce enforcement.
This comes after the hospital's other director, Malcolm Bell, and Nyandarua's spokesperson, Steve Waiganjo, were charged in court with allegedly being involved in fraudulently obtaining an extension to the hospital's lease.
The two were charged with 15 counts of signature forgery and unauthorized production of illegal documents.
They denied the charges and were released on bail of Sh150,000 each.
