Sunday, January 8, 2012

Baraza’s hubris betrays sweet hopes of the new era



Otuma Ongalo

The Nancy Baraza versus security guard saga reminds me of a hilarious moment when I was a teacher in a far-flung school in Kwale.
To get to Kinango Secondary, I had, literally, to rub shoulders with the dreaded elephants of Shimba Hills Game Reserve. However, today’s is not a tale of elephants and the woes of Duruma folks. It is a tale of how individuals who have "arrived" would like the society to perceive them.
One afternoon, in the sweltering heat of Kinango, my landlord’s father, an old man, knocked at my door. He requested my kitchen knife and was frank enough to explain its intended mission. He wanted to use the knife to cut his toenails, and probably get rid of a troubling jigger.
My firm ‘no’ was met with great surprise. He took a deep breath, paused for some time and then posed, "Do you really know me?" He then introduced himself as the father of the man in whose house I was living in.
To make a long story short, I told him that I knew him as my landlord’s father, but I could not surrender my kitchen knife to him to cut his toe nails and scoop out a nagging jigger.
This memory is rekindled by the drama involving Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Baraza and a security guard, Rebecca Kerubo. My interest is not whether a gun was involved or not, but the hubris that afflicts some individuals once they mount higher pedestals in the society. In the ancient Greek mythology, those who felt they had achieved so much even dared the gods for duels.
In Kenya, the modern day achievers expect the society to treat them differently — even if it means giving them your kitchen knife to cut their moist and smelly toe nails.
The undisputed fact in the Baraza versus Kerubo encounter is that the guard wanted to search the Deputy Chief Justice as she entered Village Market but the Lady Justice declined. Kerubo told her off despite her lordship’s position.
Kerubo, and many others like her, is my heroine this week. Hers is not a household name. She is a woman who ekes a living from one of the most despised jobs, but when duty called, she could not be intimidated by the aura of the deputy custodian of the shrine of justice.
The nation has been subjected to several incidents of insecurity following our forces invasion of Somalia to fight Al Shabaab. The terrorists have vowed retaliation and security has been heightened in public places. The Village Market is one such place and Deputy Chief Justice is no exception to security screening.
In her own confession, she too feels insecure yet she is no respecter of security measures put in place. In a twist of irony, the safeguards in place apparently threaten her security.
The likes of Kerubo should rather salute and lie prostrate in Baraza’s majestic presence. Just a few months ago, she would have surrendered to security checks but the Baraza of a few months ago is not the current lord Baraza. The society has elevated her to the realm of gods and ordinary mortals should bow before her.
It would not have been big news had Baraza been any other public officer. Apart from Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, nobody else represents the spirit of the rule of law and justice in the country. Nobody else has the highest responsibility of guarding the shrine of justice to ensure all Kenyans are equal before the laws of the land.
Following the enactment of the new Constitution, it has been hoped that the era when a selected few were exempted from the law of the land is long gone. And what institution can uphold this hope more than the Judiciary, whose deputy head is Lady Baraza?
She has betrayed this hope. Through the Village market saga, she has demonstrated that some individuals are sacred cows that should always have their way. She has perpetuated the belief that although all people are equal before the laws of the land, some are more equal. Oh Nancy!
The writer is The Standard Senior Editor, Production and Qualityoongalo@standardmedia.co.ke

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