Mutungas' ghost to haunt corrupt judges for decades

There are three distinct moments of national ecstasy in Kenya’s recent history. The first was the NARC election in 2002 when Kanu irrevocably lost power. The second was passage in 2010 of the Constitution. The third was the unlikely elevation in June 2011 of Dr Willy Mutunga to the Office of Chief Justice. Each of these singular — and historical — events bespoke of a moment pregnant with national renaissance. But as they say, fire often begets ash. To our collective national shock, each of these milestones have been still-born. NARC stole our dream. Jubilee is mutilating the Constitution. Regrettably, the Judiciary is full of vipers. The Judiciary — the guardian of Kenya’s legality — has become a cocktail of hemlock.

I want to focus only on one of those historic moments — the capture of the Judiciary by progressive forces in the person of Dr Mutunga. In the early days, Dr Mutunga set about to deliberately deconstruct and demystify the Judiciary. Methinks he was actually defrocking the judges. I will give several reasons why judges needed to be uncloaked. First — and I believe no sane person will dispute this — the Judiciary as an institution was a fountain of injustice. The very pillar of the justice system was the epitome of its exact opposite. No single Kenyan I know of ever believed justice could be done — and be seen to be done — in the courts. This was fact, not fiction.