Nairobi, Dec. 7 -- There can be no more than four judges of one gender in the Supreme Court, the appellate court has declared.

It has also directed the Judicial Service Commission to ensure compliance with the two-thirds gender rule when recruiting.

Justices Agnes Murgor, Jamila Mohamed and Roselyne Nambuye held that because the lower cadres of the judicial service are staffed with more members of one gender does not mean that the Judiciary is constitutionally compliant.

The court declined an argument by JSC that gender was not a primary consideration in the appointments. It held that it was wrong for JSC to disregard the gender principle in 2016 when recruiting Chief Justice (now retired) David Maraga, Deputy Chief Justice Philomena M...