JUDICIAL Service Commission member Ahmednasir Abdullahi has dismissed claims that he was not qualified to practice as a lawyer. In a letter dated June 15 to Law Society of Kenya chairman Eric Mutua, Ahmednasir responded to the allegation by Nairobi debt collector Bryan Yongo that he had forged the signature of his master Peter Simani on his pupillage certificate. Simani is the current chairman of the political parties tribunal. "I have carefully gone through the affidavit of Mr. Yongo. I will not dignify one sentence of the same with a response. I dismiss all the allegations contained therein with utmost contempt," stated Ahmednasir.

Yongo has since withdrawn his allegations by sending another affidavit to LSK that he had been pressured to incriminate Ahmednasir by anti-reformers. Yongo's claims initially surfaced when he joined residents of Mukinduri Lane in Karen in resisting eviction by Ahmednasir's law firm on behalf of their client.

LSK council met in Eldoret this month ad resolved to charge Yongo with perjury. "It is also material to note that the same affidavit that made grave allegations against myself was withdrawn by an affidavit that states the opposite of the initial one. In my considered option both should be treated in the same manner. Contempt!," stated Ahmednasir's letter.

His letter states that he attended University of Nairobi between 1987-1990 before doing his pupillage with Simani and enrolling at the Kenya School of Law. He did his masters at Cornell University before teaching at the University of Nairobi. Later he became chairman of Law Society of Kenya( 2003- 2005) and chairman of Kenya Anti Corruption Commission( 2003-2004) before joining the JSC in 2010. This is the abridged history of my sojourn in the legal profession, for the time being", concludes Ahmednasir.

However, lawyer Osundwa Sakwa is still insisting that LSK should proceed to the allegation of Simani's allegedly forged signature on Ahmednasir's pupilage certificate. Sakwa was Yongo's lawyer before he withdrew the affidavit. Yongo said he had withdrawn his complaint to the LSK but Sakwa is arguing that his law firm Osundwa and Sakwa filed the complaint with the LSK and have not withdrawn it. Osundwa wants action taken against Yongo for misrepresenting the matter.

In a letter to LSK dated June 12, Osundwa argues that LSK should not divert attention from Ahmednassir by asking him to swear an affidavit. "We do not want to be diverted from our attention and complaint against Ahmednasir Abdullahi. The writer will not swear any affidavit as demanded by you or seek to be witness of your intended complaint of perjury against Yongo. That is diversionary. What we have required of you and still require of you is to handle our complaint against Ahmednasir or let us know why you can't handle it. The complaint does not require an affidavit," stated Osundwa.

Osundwa claims that the complaint requires LSK to verify Simani's signature in the certificate of completion of pupillage dated November 26, 1992 with that in his file at LSK. "Or let Peter Simani confirm whether or not it is his signature; give us copies of the entire petition for admission by Ahmednasir and confirm to us in writing whether or not Simani took out a practicing certificate for the years 1992 and 1993. For your information, the fact is that Peter Simani did not take out a practicing certificate for those years," wrote Osundwa.