Saturday, January 14, 2012

Why The CJ Needs Good Deal Of Luck



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Like all other Kenyans, I spent the past week exercising my constitutional right to extract the maximum possible amusement from the Nancy Baraza media circus. And indeed I wonder what we would all have been discussing if the Deputy Chief Justice had not provided us with such a delicious scandal at the very moment when we needed distraction from the threats by Al-Shabaab; school fees bills; and the high cost of fuel.
It’s true that for a moment there, the former Prime Ministerial adviser, Miguna Miguna, brought comic relief to both our TV screens and our newspapers with his shallow conceit, infantile self-glorification and delusional self-assessments. But it is ‘Nancy’ who gave us something we could really sit down and debate at great length.
One friend of mine, who has long suffered from diabetes, argued that the conduct described by Rebecca Kerubo, the security guard said to have been assaulted and threatened by Ms. Baraza, was a perfect example of ‘diabetic rage’. And that it was possible that the DCJ suffers from undiagnosed diabetes.
Apparently, at the end of an exhausting day, an undiagnosed diabetic (i.e. one who is not aware of their condition and so does not self-medicate with insulin) can lose control in a manner which borders on a mental breakdown.But the condition, once diagnosed, is easily treated.
Yet another claimed that Ms. Baraza is famous for her explosive disposition, and that her volcanic temper made her “a disaster waiting to happen” from the moment she assumed office. A third point of view I heard was that there was witchcraft at work in this unprecedented drama.
Just think about it: Nancy Baraza holds one of the most enviable positions in the republic. To begin with, her job one which enjoys constitutional protection. Then, she only had to sit tight for about eight years (all along drawing a salary of about a million shillings a month) and she would have been a front-runner to replace the Chief Justice and subsequently be the first ever woman to hold that position in Kenyan history.
Whether it is fame one seeks; or an opportunity to move forward the reform process; or even just a magnificent monthly salary; in Kenya, you can hardly do better than to be Deputy Chief Justice. And as a seasoned lawyer, the DCJ knows very well what the legal implications are, of making threats while waving a gun. Nor is it a secret that just about every upmarket shopping mall in Nairobi has closed-circuit TV cameras covering almost every inch of their premises.
So how can you possibly explain the actions attributed to Nancy Baraza, if you rule out a malicious and spectacularly effective application of witchcraft by her enemies? Such then, are some of the views I have heard expressed in this matter. But from my personal viewpoint, the person really at the center of this drama is Dr. Willy Mutunga, the Chief Justice. In the early and celebratory days of his appointment, he seemed to be concerned with fairly trivial issues. He had views on how judges should be addressed in court; on the horse-hair wigs that judges wore; and other such. He seemed more concerned with the appearances of reform, than with the substance of it.
And then the blows began to fall. First, it transpired that the building into which he had just moved, had been "renovated" with such incredible incompetence that all kinds of things (lifts; water supply; sanitation systems) were not working. Indeed parts of this "newly renovated" building were falling apart.
He called in the media to bear witness to how the Kenyan taxpayer had been robbed in this renovation contract. And the Minister of Public Works responded by rebuking the CJ for daring to comment on matters concerning which he had no technical competence. Now we have the Nancy Baraza media circus, which seems to be pushing him towards facilitating the exit of his deputy, in order to retain public confidence in the judiciary.
It all reminds us that the immense prestige of the office Dr Mutunga holds comes with enormous responsibilities which are a crushing burden to the shoulders which bear them. That he will face agonizing decisions and great frustration in years to come, if the judiciary is indeed to be reformed. And that he will need all the support he can get, as well as a great deal of luck, if he is to succeed.
Good luck Chief Justice.

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