MPs approve panel to vet judges and magistrates

By Peter Opiyo and David Ochami

A victim of 'judicial injustice' under the Moi regime will now sit in a panel to vet judges.

Prof Ngotho wa Kariuki, who was detained by the Moi Government, will sit on the panel aimed at weeding out judges and magistrates.

With him in the panel will be Mr Sharad Sadashiv Rao, a famous prosecutor under the Moi regime.

Rao will chair the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board.

Parliament adopted a list of nine judges and professionals last evening, which includes Rao, Kariuki and three foreigners chosen by the British Commonwealth after vetting by the ConstitutionImplementation Oversight Committee (CIOC) last month.

Ironically, when he was vetted by CIOC last month, Kariuki said he was persecuted under the Moi Regime.

However, the former lecturer said he holds no grudge against the retired president and that he did not join the struggle for reform for personal gain.

Kariuki was detained without trial between 1986 and 1988 and charged with sedition between 1990 and 1992.

Interestingly, Rao prosecuted dissidents opposed to Moi.

Rao led the first post-independence treason trial of the late Andrew Muthemba.

The foreigners who will be in the panel are Sir Stephen Sedley of the UK, Chief Justice Georgina Wood of Ghana and Louise Otis from Canada while the other Kenyans are Ms Meuledi Mabruki Iseme, Justus Maithya Munyithya, Roseline Odhiambo Odede and Abdirashid Abdullahi.

The nominees will now be formally appointed by the President.

CIOC chairman Muhamed Abdikadir described the nominees as "eminently qualified" while Lands Minister James Orengo noted that the vetting will restore faith in the Judiciary.

Before Tuesday’s approval, MPs applauded Kariuki for his contribution towards reforms as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi through his days in detention.

They hailed Rao’s contribution as a prosecutor and called for a just vetting process of judges and magistrates.

Humiliate candidates

Garsen MP Danson Mungatana supported the list but proposed that in future, only people who have demonstrated civic duty and interest in reform and Kenyan politics should be named to public office while

Internal Security minister George Saitoti described Rao’s record under Moi as "extremely good" and called for "a dignified" vetting that does not humiliate candidates.

Saitoti who taught with Kariuki at the University of Nairobi described him as an "unrivalled scholar."

Transport Minister Amos Kimunya said vetting should not "begin from the premise that all judges are bad".

Ikolomani MP Bonny Khalwale described Kariuki as "a comrade in the struggle."

When they were vetted by CIOC early last month, the nominees described the radical surgery of 2003 spearheaded by Justice Aaron Ringera, a witch-hunt that breached rules of natural justice.

Nominees said their vetting will be objective and just and accused lawyers of perpetrating judicial corruption.

Rao said in 2003, "Judges were not allowed at all to answer charges against them" with Kariuki suggesting that serving judicial officials should contribute to creating the objective vetting formula for the future.

Rao, who rose to fame in 1981, for prosecuting the first treason trial in Kenya against Muthemba and later testified during the Njonjo Inquiry in 1983 claimed.

Rao, who left Kenya in mid 1980s and returned in 1996 after working at The Hague, also admitted that the matter of the pharmaceutical was raised in Parliament in 1995.