With Kenya set for the promulgation of the New Constitution by His Excellency the President on the 27th August 2010 in a public function in broad day light at Uhuru Park, our attention as a country now turns to the role of the Judiciary in strengthening the new constitutional dispensation.
It is a known fact that the Chief Justice and the Director of Public Prosecution are the first casualties in the clean up of the Judicial System. But the question is, of what use is their leaving office when the structures that have made them ineffective remains the same? When the attitude remains the same?
What we must push for is attitude change to come with the new order.
Officers so appointed to these offices must first and foremost swear fidelity to the rule of law. They must not kowtow to the wishes of The Executive, because, this has been the problem. The Executive rode rough shod over the Judiciary for so long and all appointments to the Judiciary were basically political.
We all know that Justice when pronounced must be pronounced with absolute gravity, but this has never been the case in Kenya. Many a times we have been saddled with cases where our Judicial officers give judgement that defy simple logic and are not consistent with the law.
But that is water under the bridge now. Our aspirations as a country are hinged on the new order. We are all happy that at long last, Kenyans have spoken and we must have faith with our officers at the Judiciary. We know that we have some officers therein who are good; men and women who can help move the Judiciary from its current lowest ebb into history. Such officers must be identified, encouraged and promoted.
We must not condemn all in the Judiciary. They were operating under duress and time has come for the brave ones to redeem themselves. We will soon be seeing in how they dispense Justice to all litigants and this will prove to us their quality and calibre. We must have faith and move forward as a team. We also know that we have a team that is severally incompetent and incapable of upholding the rule of law despite their being in the Judiciary. This type must be weeded out to the dustbins of history. And they should be made to pay for their sins; abetting the mis-courage of Justice across Kenya.
The rule of law will be very central to the success story that we have started of Kenya. We are not where we are because we did not have the right laws. We are where we are because we did not respect the law. We had several people who did not respect the rule of law, and this has permeated to all sectors of our society.
To bring Kenya back on track, officers serving in the Judiciary must prove to Kenyans that they have faith in the rule of law, and that they are equal to the task. When this is done, we will be able to contain all the madness that we have in Kenya. Simple cases like the madness in the matatu industry will be issues of the past. Cases of rampant impunity will cease to be a way of life in Kenya. It is impunity that kills Kenya. People are becoming brave because they cannot be hauled to face Justice. This must stop.
I took a leisurely walk to Muthurwa Market yesterday and I was shocked. I saw a police officer very helpless in the discharge of his duties. I saw hawkers who had taken the first 2 lanes at the Bus Terminus to the chagrin of Matatu Operators, and I saw no attempt at sorting this out. I saw hawkers trading their wares on foot paths meant for passers by. We must reclaim Muthurwa Market and all arms of Government must work as a team to bring back order here.
I called the relevant officers mandated with this and I was assured that something is being done about it shortly. As a concerned citizenry, we must ask ourselves what our roles will be in making sure that the rule of law is maintained. We will also need to ask ourselves what we need to do to maintain some semblance of order across Kenya.
Must we buy wares from street vendors as opposed to buying from the stalls? Is it us who are encouraging the abuse of law and order by condoning disorder?
We as a country must do the right thing. We must help in creating order so that the enforcing officers have it easy. We must not be part of the problem. We must be part of the solution. We cannot demand services when we condone disorder. We must lead by example and do what is right.
Again, I walked down the road that leads into and out of the Bus Terminus and I was shocked. Is that a road that somebody sat down to plan? What is the role of professionals in creating disorder? Can we be told who did the design of this Terminus and at what cost? Or did he do it for free? If he did it for free, he should still have done a good job!
This is a piece of some shoddy job. It has no thinking behind it and the people behind the planning and implementation of this project ought to be surcharged. It is our voice as a country that will stop such kind of projects being thrust on us another time. And the Officers in the Judiciary must be ready to defend Kenya against these cartels that thrive on shortchanging Kenyans.
These are people whose interests are at variance with the aspirations of the country. And time has come for us Kenyans to stop these cartels and their hirelings.
Odhiambo T Oketch
CEO KCDN Nairobi,
PO Box 47890-00100,
Nairobi, Kenya.
Tel; 0724 365 557,
Email; komarockswatch@yahoo.com
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Odhiambo is the current chairman to the Stakeholders Evaluation Team on Performance Contract and Rapid Results Initiative at the City Council of Nairobi- CCNSET