Willy Mutunga and Gladys Shollei washing their dirty linen on social media

After missing from the limelight since the judiciary row that forced her out of the office, Gladys Shollei is back (on Twitter).

On Tuesday morning, Chief Justice Willy Mutunga posted on his Twitter handle something to the effect that he did not have an official residence and that since he was appointed as CJ, he has been living in a rented house. He added that his house allowance is Sh 100,000 which is taxed.

This is Mutunga’s Tweet with claims that he does not have an official residence: 

I have no official residence. Since my appointment I live in a rented apartment. My house allowance is 100K and is taxed.

— Dr Willy M Mutunga (@WMutunga)

After this tweet by Willy Mutunga, Gladys Shollei immediately shot back with a reply, accusing Mutunga, respectable member and president of an arm of government of openly lying. She also attached documents indicating that Mutunga had made a request to the then head of public service Francis Muthaura to have an official residence. The CJ however insisted that his tweet stated the truth and that the letter to Muthaura does not prove otherwise.

I am extremely shocked at how a respectable member and President of an Arm of Govt would openly lie. Check> pic.twitter.com/NVvfnVr8RH — Gladys Boss Shollei (@gladysshollei)

As the Judicial tweef got more intense, former presidential candidate Martha Karua joined in, asking Mutunga why he had not moved in to his house, that is said to have been built at Sh 310 Million. To this, the CJ responded saying the house purchase was under scrutiny by the ethics and anti corruption commission (EACC) because of corruption allegations.

In April 2013, the Judiciary announced that it had secured an official residence to house the country’s chief justices. Willy Mutunga was to be the first occupant. The Chief Justice has been allowed a monthly rental allowance of up to Sh 1 Million. The judicial service commission, tender committee and evaluation committee at the time okayed the long term understanding that it would be cheaper to have an official residence than pay Sh 1 Million monthly

A budget of Sh 200 Million was then set aside to purchase the same. However, the judiciary ended up paying Sh 310 Million to buy a house belonging to senator Johnstone Muthama and a further Sh 50 Million to furnish it. Its not clear if Muthama received the money but he still holds the title in the bank.

But long before these details were revealed, that transaction was suspected to be fishy. Apart from the increased allocation from the Sh 200 million to Sh 310 Million, there was a disagreement between members of the judicial service commission who could not agree on what to be spent. The CJ is said to have rejected an additional spending on the house because a Sh 175 Million house had been identified along Manyani East road in Lavington.

Sources claim the 175 Million house was rejected by Shollei who preferred the Sh 310 million house.

As the two engage in Twitter wars, Shollei insists that the CJ was involved in the decision making and rubbishes claims that the house had not been duly procured and taken over by the CJ who she says he even chose his own furniture and deployed guards.

The CJ maintains he will not occupy the controversy riddled house. He continues to stay in a rented house and claims that he draws a house allowance of Sh 100,000

On Wednesday afternoon, CJ Mutunga sent a statement to news rooms indicating that the purchase of the Sh 310 million house in Runda was never completed by the judiciary owing to suspected corruption.