Soul-searching needed to redeem the Law Society of Kenya's image

NAIROBI: The recent events at the Law Society of Kenya's Annual General Meeting portrayed the LSK as a body at war with itself threatening to lead to its death row. It appeared as if all hell had broken loose and the learned friends, according to some in the Press, had engaged in unlearned war that was threatening to tear the professional body apart.

Some have gone ahead to unfortunately; suggest that it is a war between senior and young lawyers. That is certainly not true. First and foremost, LSK has had an illustrious and chequered history which has given it a distinct identity as a society that prides itself in maintaining certain ethos that puts it at a high pedestal.

That is why the country was shocked to watch very disturbing images coming from the Annual General Meeting. Such images have been popular with county halls, union meetings and other welfare organisations. Lawyers have over the years championed decorum, civility and reasonableness when settling disputes.

That is why we owe it to ourselves not to tread there again. The LSK was among the institutions whose leading lights played a role in the Second Liberation that led to the repeal of Section 2A of the retired Constitution and subsequently the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution. A number of our leaders suffered. Some went to exile fearing for their lives, others were incarcerated while others were brutalised by the oppressive regimes of the past.

Even then, we did not lose our reasoning capacity and stayed together. It did not matter who came from where, what age or sex.What mattered at that time was the fight for the Rule of Law, tolerance and justice.

The driving force for our members was for the betterment of the entire Kenyan Society. We must remember that, on several occasions, we had running battles with the Government and the Government strove unsuccessfully to break our spirits and cause disharmony among us but we stayed together as a united body. That is where our strength was and still is.

As a professional society we must engage in serious soul-searching, retrace our steps back and find out where the rain started beating us. This is not the time for sabre-rattling and chest thumping histrionics that would weaken our society further. There is no war between the senior and younger members of the society. The LSK members are all equal and have equal rights.

The membership is growing every year and these are challenges that are expected of any rapidly growing society anywhere in the world. The 1990 United Nations Protocol on the independence of the legal profession was meant to create an environment for fostering a strong law society capable of standing for the just Rule of Law, independence of the Judiciary and constitutionalism.

These cardinal principles are very important to the people of Kenya and a weakened Law Society will have no capacity to stand and defend the people against the breach of their constitutional rights.

The LSK must therefore remain united and strong in order to continue fighting for the successful implementation of the Constitution and the realisation of the Bill of Rights for enjoyment of the Kenyan people. I humbly submit therefore that infighting erodes our ability as a society to stand for the fundamental rights of our members and Kenyans.

We must therefore rise as one family, reason together and find solutions for our society in a more dignified, sober and "lawyerly" manner. We must respect one another and uphold each other with dignity and embrace dialogue.

That is why it is important that the society embraces the consultative process that the Council of the Law Society has proposed for next week to move the LSK forward in a responsible and structured manner devoid of jingoism and intransigence.

The only ball our eyes must be focused on is the ball of a united, strong LSK. Any person who is not interested in the members of the Law Society talking to each other is surely not our friend.