Sunday, January 8, 2012

Next time join the queue, Ms Baraza, it’s the courtly thing to do and it won’t hurt



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By MURITHI MUTIGA
Posted  Saturday, January 7  2012 at  19:42
A couple of years ago, I was scheduled to interview lawyer Pheroze Nowrojee for a story I was researching on the legacy of Kenya’s second vice- president Joseph Murumbi.
We had settled on a spot on Ngong Road as the meeting point, and when I saw him, I gave him a call to alert him to my presence.
Unfortunately, a traffic policeman spotted him answering the call and pounced instantly. He got into the passenger seat at the front and I slipped in the back.
The good officer made it clear that an offence had been committed, and Mr Nowrojee completely agreed. He asked the policeman what the next step should be.
The officer, who had clearly not registered yet that he was dealing with one of the most senior lawyers around, made some vague noises on how the matter could be settled instantly, but Mr Nowrojee would hear none of it, and our unhappy party proceeded to Kilimani police station.
Alarmed by this state of affairs, especially the time the police were taking to process bond for someone who clearly would not part with a bribe, I did a most Kenyan thing and told Nowrojee that I could call our crime correspondent who could easily get a more senior officer to smooth over the situation.
Mr Nowrojee rejected the suggestion. He politely showed his work ID indicating he is a lawyer and was, therefore, an officer of the court and most unlikely to skip bail.
He proceeded to pay the amount they demanded as bond, took his receipt, and we were off to do our story.
I have only a vague recollection of what we discussed on Murumbi, but Mr Nowrojee’s humility and willingness to obey the law endured in the memory.
This story came to mind while following the Nancy Baraza saga. The confrontation between her and the security guard understandably commands attention, but the detail which I found most striking — and which remains uncontested — is that Ms Baraza felt it was beneath her to join a queue.
Ms Baraza considered that her position as deputy chief justice entitled her to waltz right past the queue of people waiting to undergo security checks.
According to some political theorists, you can gauge the level of civilisation in a society by assessing the ability of people to queue in orderly fashion and checking the way that society treats its prisoners.
Courtesy is expected, above all, from senior members of society. The word comes from the old French “courteis” which meant the polite and “courtly manners” expected from those in the King’s court.
In India, they had the word “daksinya” which means the “kindness and consideration expressed in a sophisticated and elegant way” by senior members of society.
The fact Ms Baraza could not find it within herself to join a queue raises serious questions about her perception of the concept of equality under the law.
If it’s any consolation, though, at least her boss the CJ is, like Mr Nowrojee, one of the most easygoing judicial officials you will ever meet, so maybe we have a balanced Jekyll and Hyde combination running the Judiciary.
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On a lighter note, the explanation Rebecca Kerubo, the aggrieved guard, gave to television reporters is straight from the Vioja Mahakamani comedy series. Hatua yenye nilichukua nilitoroka (My reaction was to take off)
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I have had a running conversation with Dr Ruben Richards, a former head of the feared South African anti-corruption unit, the Scorpions, about last week’s article culminating in the rejoinder published elsewhere in this newspaper.
Those discussions set off the thought that considering the politically and ethnically motivated nomination of disappointing candidates for some of these key posts, why don’t we amend the Constitution to allow foreign nationals to apply?
Certainly I would vote for a presidential candidate who promised to follow the Scorpions template and to appoint one of its former chiefs to run a refashioned anti-corruption agency here. That, of course, is a forlorn hope.
mmutiga@ke.nationmedia.com

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