PHOTO/TOM MARUKO Smokin Wanjala during the interviews by the Judiciary Service commission at Anniversary Towers in Nairobi on June 7, 2011.
By PAUL JUMA pjuma@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, June 7 2011 at 22:30
Posted Tuesday, June 7 2011 at 22:30
Former deputy director of the anti-corruption watchdog Smokin Wanjala on Tuesday pledged to analyse “the anatomy of corruption” to eradicate the vice from the Judiciary.
Dr Wanjala, who resigned from the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission in 2009 following controversy over the renewal of the top officials’ terms, spoke when he attended an interview for the position of Supreme Court judge.
He said he would start by carrying out “corruption-mapping” in the Judiciary.
This, he said, would involve a comprehensive analysis of the causes of the vice and affected areas, before creating mechanisms to eradicate the vice.
He said he would employ technology to create a mechanism for reconstructing contents of court files to eradicate the problem of disappearing files guided by what he termed “the reconstructive school of thought”.
According to Dr Wanjala, the outcry over the manner in which President Kibaki had renewed the terms of top KACC officials was reasonable and justified.
He told the seven-member Judicial Service Commission (JSC) that KACC failed to correct the perception that it was not effectively tackling corruption.
Also interviewed on Tuesday was Mr Joseph Adera, a practising lawyer and University of Dar es Salaam law degree holder with a master’s in law from Harvard.
Despite his exceptional academic background, his curriculum vitae seemed not to have been convincing to Mr Ahmednasir Abdullahi, a member of the interview panel.
The commissioner asked Mr Adera why his CV was “thin” and did not reflect the depth expected of one with such qualifications.
He appeared to have not written a single referred article, nor to have had any major professional involvement.
“Since leaving Harvard in 1977, nothing has triggered your conscience to write even a small article?” asked Mr Ahmednasir.
The candidate, hard-pressed to explain the apparent gap, said: “After law school, I worked in a bank, so I was basically a banker. But that does not mean I would not be able to write.”
He added that his grades were a proof that he possessed the grasp of the law that the position required.
Earlier, a candidate failed to show up for the interview. Mrs Phoebe Okowa Nyawade was to be the first to face the panel.
According to JSC chairperson Christine Mango, Mrs Okowa resides in the UK and was unable to cater for her flight to Nairobi.
The candidate had requested the commission to foot her travel bill, but that was not in the budget of the commission, Prof Mango said.
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