By Peter Kimani

I can see clearly now the rain is gone, right through the veneer of woollen coats and wigs that the men of the Bench wear. Formally, they are called judges, the name usually capped to display their seniority in society.

So I shall not mock Justice Muga Apondi’s attire, partly because the weather has been cold, and since that’s his official wear.

Yet, if you don’t mind my saying, my heart went out to him – a black man in robes reflecting white culture, judging a white man for killing a black man.

After all, Tom Cholmondeley, isn’t Kenyan, in spite of his colour.

Just look at his stiff upper lip, thanks to his English public schooling where life is spent learning more about daffodils and table manners than "life skills".

Why, the life that his forebears lived included shooting Africans for sport. His grandfather even dreamt about laying pipes to flow with milk, not water, in the place they claimed as their Promised Land, yet no shipload of earth was ferried from England to Kenya.

That’s dangerous rhetoric, considering that our forebears, such as good old Jomo, with his tusahau yaliyopita (forgetting the past) doctrine, sought healing over strife for the land and its people.

Justice Apondi echoed these sentiments on Thursday, recalling the restive mood that pervaded the land in December 2007.

Only that Cholmondeley (his name sounds like Soro-mondo) did not differ politically with Robert Njoya, the stonemason he was convicted of killing in a cowardly attack.

And to confirm that the law is truly an ass, no reference was made (perhaps applying the principle of relevance) to the killing of Kenya Wildlife Service ranger Samson ole Sisina.

Impressed as I was by Justice Apondi’s poetic voice – soft cadence and erudition – I think his argument and ultimate judgement was crass.

I remain convinced, like many Kenyans, that race, ethnicity, class and wealth, still count for something.

English peer

And rather than tire us with the principles of law designed for subjects of the Queen, he should have confessed his inadequacy in sentencing an English peer using English law.

Had I been a judge, (with a small j), I would have asked not have wasted public resources trying Soro-Mondo, considering the limitations of our freedom.

Rather, my practical sensibility would have persuaded me to ask him to hand over his vast land or risk spending the rest of his life in jail.

This proposition is not motivated by the "law of the jungle," it simply means depriving Soro-Mondo the land that’s causing him to cause infractions of the law by recklessly shooting at trespassers.

And we could resettle the landless in the Mau Forest…

Karua, the comeback kids?

"Former Justice Minister Martha Karua!.." There is an edge of anger to this line. Why would people sound as though they are only interested in Karua’s past, not the future?

But the Gichugu MP hardly makes news these days, even when the issues of the day are fairly interesting.

I think this has nothing to do with Mr Mutula Kilonzo’s appointment to replace Karua at the Justice docket; it is just that there are 220 MPs competing for attention.

Some have mastered the art of Sunday Press conference (imagine that, planning your week with a permanent disclaimer of unavailability on Sundays), to try catch some attention when fewer MPs are in town.

Karua did her bit this week, by unleashing some punches on the police that she claims are hatching such unimaginative plots as to disguise themselves as Mungiki, Vigilantes or God – knows – what.

Still, her punchy line could only manage space after page 20-something, reflecting the great disadvantage Karua now suffers as a backbencher.

And is the former Justice minister still campaigning as she did every weekend, and now she must have more time on her hands. She is so silent…

Museveni’s fishy business

Soldiers never die, and Ugandan Prezzo M7 is one to the core. So he speaks directly and forcefully, and recently stopped short of saying that he would demand fishes of the water to carry passports, so that any "Jaluo" fisherman would have prove he fished in the appropriate side of the island.

Now what’s needed is his office to drop any pretensions that M7 was "misinterpreted".

Since he wasn’t addressing the fishes in the water, but human beings living on land, and so use intellect, rather than instincts, the specific meaning as to his words that the island belongs to Kenya and the water is in Uganda is pretty obvious.

Now M7 should indicate which Jaluo he had in mind (is he a fisherman-politician as someone alleged about Raphael Wanjala), or a fisherman as in John the Baptist?

In any case, neither Wanjala nor the Baptist hail from that community, so M7 must know other fisherman he is having beef with over the Migingo.

—pkimani@eastandard.net