Taking stock of laws enacted through 2011

By Pravin Bowry

As the curtain falls on the year 2011, it is opportune to take stock of the mindboggling enactment of laws which has taken place during the course of the year and the legal changes are likely to touch every Kenyan in one way or the other.

The Parliament has passed — and the President has assented to — a mammoth set of 36 Acts which not only created new laws but amended and repealed provisions in over 150 existing enactments, sending even the trained lawyers back to the drawing board or the law school! Not all the statutes emanate as a result of the Constitution though most do.

To chronicle the law by subject or by concept will starkly depict the phenomenal transformation which has taken place in the year.

Tribal matters

The Justice system and in particular judiciary will never be the same due to passing of seven substantive Acts. The Judicial Service Act, The Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Act, The Vetting of Judges and Magistrates (Amendment) Act, The Supreme Court Act, The Environmental and Land Court Act and The Industrial Court Act.

As is apparent, a new system of courts is now in place and the judges and magistrates have a well defined mode of appointments, a far cry from the previous arbitrary and whimsical appointment system and hopefully the litigants, complainants and victims of crime all stand to gain.

Then comes the police force with the enactment of The National Police Services Act and The Independence Policing Oversight Authority Act which will shape up the police force hopefully moulding a new image for the police force.

A total of eight commissions were formally put in place and these are The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Act, The Commission on Administrative Justice Act, The Commission on Revenue Allocation Act, The National Gender and Equality Commission Act, The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights Act, The Independence Electoral and Boundaries Commission Act, and Salaries and Remuneration Act, The National Police Service Commission Act.

The cumulative effect of all these commission is to make Kenya a better place to live under the umbrella of the Constitution and the principle enshrined in it.

The politics in the country has also been changed with The Elections Act, The Urban Area and Cities Act and the Political Parties Act.

The Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act and The Kenya Citizens and Foreign Nationals Management Service Act also gives different meaning to the concept of citizens and allegiance to the country with dual citizenship now being allowed.

The Price Control (Essential Goods) Act gives the Minister to fix maximum prices of the commodities "in consultation with the Industry" and selling of goods in excess of the price can attract a sentence of Sh1 million or imprisonment of up to five years of both!

Some people consider this law regressive.

The Industrial Training (Amendment) Act has charged laws relating to industrial training.

Laws touching on some personal and traditional and tribal matters have also been made.

The Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act with the establishment of Anti – Female Genital Mutilation Board being set up. A new set of offences relating to female genital mutilation have been created.

Professionals, too, have received some attention. The nursing professions and veterinary surgeons have now new laws to work with under the Nurses (Amendment) Act and the Veterinary Surgeons & Veterinary Para Professionals Act and the laws make extremely pertinent changes.

The Mutual Legal Assistance Act will go a long way in assisting the investigations of past economic crimes such as money laundering and the law gives a better defined instrument to investigate and prosecute crimes with international complexion.

The Power of Mercy Act deals with matters of pardon and parole.

The Traffic (Amendment) Act 2011 and the Tea (Amendment) Act and some other Acts deal with mundane issues prevailing in the country.

Errors and blunders

The year 2011 in terms of development of law will be remembered for a long time and the massive changes will most certainly bring a lot to cheer to Kenyans in times to come. The regrettable tangent of the hurried legislation is that there are very many errors and some major blunders.

Many corrections and amendments will result to give full purport and meaning to the new statutes.

Jeremy Bentham in his treatise "Principles of Morals and Legislation" said "The general object which all laws have, or ought to have, is to augment total happiness of the community"

Happiness, total happiness, then is my wish to Kenyans for the year 2012.

The writer is a lawyer.

bowryp@hotmail.com