Ahmednasir has fallen victim to his self-destructive, excessive obsessions

By Makau Mutua

Twitter@makaumutua

They say; “the bigger they are, the harder the fall”. That aphorism aptly describes vanquished Judicial Service Commission (JSC) member Ahmednasir Abdullahi. The legal gadfly has finally been neutered.

They also say that “you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time. The truth has finally caught up with my erstwhile learned friend. I derive no particular pleasure in the professional misfortune of Mr Abdullahi.

But I celebrate his long overdue departure from the inner sanctum of the Judiciary. Quite frankly, I think he was a millstone around Chief Justice Willy Mutunga’s neck. Nor can it be gainsaid that he was an unmitigated disaster at the JSC.

It’s a well-known truism that “pride cometh before the fall”. That’s the bane of dictators like the late Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, or the disgraced Hosni Mubarak of Egypt — the egomaniacs simply never see it coming. They have a humility defect, a malaise that makes them treat public service as personal property.

They simply don’t get that serving the public is an honour for which they must be stewards. But they are instead possessed with the “master of the universe complex”.

This is the same debilitating hubris that afflicts many of Kenya’s legislators.

That’s why their careers are likely to end in heartbreak.

My view is that Abdullahi has fallen victim to his own self-destructive and excessive obsessions.

Most importantly, I think Abdullahi is a casualty of the new Constitution. That charter demands a degree of transparency that wasn’t possible before. The lesson for public servants — and especially those in constitutional commissions — is that power must be exercised with humility.

The same document that propelled Abdullahi to the JSC is the same document that brought him crashing down to earth.

They say what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. The man dished out bad karma, and it came back to bite him in the rear. Mark my words – Abdullahi’s rejection by his fellow lawyers will send him into public oblivion. He rose, but he has fallen with the diminished prospect of rising again.

Ihave tried to understand Abdullahi, but that’s no easy task. I am flummoxed, for example, why a man who claims to be well educated speaks and writes in broken English. His cognition appears to be incapable of mastering English grammar and syntax. Perhaps this is a congenital defect. This is a remarkable disconnect for a man who regales in haranguing others for being “uneducated” or not “scholarly”.

You would think he would see the log in his eye before pointing out the speck in others. But false pride and insecurity can be very blinding. It seems to me Abdullahi is simply an unrequited academic. That means he’s no academic at all, although he wishes to be one.

Let me bear out my argument. Kenya recalls  Abdullahi mercilessly grilling judges who sought to join the Bench after the 2010 Constitution. It all played out in broad daylight.

I have never held brief for the Kanu-era Judiciary. But anyone watching those televised interviews knew instinctively that Abdullahi was either a narcissist or simply a cruel human being. He delighted in publicly humiliating the judges.

He terrorised them pitilessly.

Personally, I thought the other JSC members should have reined him in. But the man ran wild like a Tsavo boar. He lynched the judges. He was bloodthirsty.

The behaviour was vengeful and unnecessary. It was clear the judges were unqualified, but beating up on them was over-the-top and asinine.

The second episode relates to Abdullahi’s animus towards gays. Recently, I joined the chorus of human rights advocates condemning the draconian anti-gay law in Nigeria. Abdullahi charged at me like a beast of prey for supporting gay rights. I plead guilty as charged — and have no apologies to make to Abdullahi, or any other homophobic bigots.

The “Grand Mullah,” as he is derisively called, can’t run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Either he supports all human rights, or he supports none. He can’t advocate the persecution of gays and then turn around and accuse others of discriminating against Somalis, or marginalised communities. Nor does he have to be a woman to support women’s rights.

In spite of these contradictions, Abdullahi rose to the pinnacle of the legal profession. He was chair of the Law Society of Kenya and was the one-time head of the advisory board of the official anti-corruption agency.

Questions have been raised about the legality of his practicing certificate. Reports indicate confusion about the viability of his pupilage. He’s deflected those questions, but he’s never answered them.

But I believe in redemption.  Perhaps Abdullahi can make amends out of the limelight.