Justice Mercy Garekwe has delivered a scathing rebuke of former Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP) Carter Morupisi, accusing him of abusing court processes through his unsuccessful bid to have her recuse herself from presiding over his case.
In her ruling, Garekwe dismissed Morupisi’s application for her recusal, describing it as baseless, malicious, and a delaying tactic. She made reference to the timing of the application—filed after arguments in the case had already been heard— and raised questions about its legitimacy and intention.
“This application is totally unmerited, a red herring, an abuse of the court and its processes,” Justice Garekwe said. She emphasized that recusal applications must meet a “double reasonability” test, requiring a reasonable apprehension of bias supported by credible evidence. Morupisi’s allegations, she said, fell far short of this standard.
The judge criticized Morupisi for failing to act promptly despite allegedly being aware of the grounds for his recusal application before the matter was argued. Instead, she said, he waited until the eve of judgment to file the application. “The applicant has failed to explain why he did not raise these issues earlier, even though they were known to him all along. This only points to a lack of genuine apprehension of bias and borders on unreasonableness,” Justice Garekwe said.
She also dismissed allegations that she had improperly influenced the State’s legal strategy, describing them as vague and unsubstantiated. Justice Garekwe said that if such a serious accusation had any merit, Morupisi’s legal team should have acted immediately instead of continuing to argue the case before her.
On Morupisi’s claim that her past rulings, including a 2020 defamation case involving the Sunday Standard, rendered her biased, Justice Garekwe rejected the argument outright. “Litigants win some cases and lose others. If losing a case were grounds for recusal, the judiciary would run out of judges,” she said.
Justice Garekwe further accused Morupisi of attempting to frustrate the judicial process by questioning her appointment to the matter. She pointed out that the appointment had been made in line with established rules and dismissed his objections as procedurally flawed and unfounded.
She concluded that Morupisi’s application lacked merit and was an abuse of court procedures designed to delay the outcome of the case. She imposed a punitive cost order against him, reflecting the frivolous nature of his application.
“This court will not tolerate such actions that undermine the administration of justice,” Justice Garekwe said.
