By PETER KAMURI

Last week, integrity issues were the highlight of the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board¡¯s decisions, which saw illustrious careers of four appellate judges come to an end.

Justice Joseph Nyamu, Samuel Bosire, Riaga Omolo and Emmanuel O¡¯kubasu careers ¡ª spanning many years ¡ª were halted after they were found to be unfit to continue serving in the Judiciary.

The decision came after a radical surgery that aimed at cleaning the Judiciary. And soon, more judges might fall by the wayside if their past is found to be tainted.

These judges lost their jobs because their past deeds could not measure up to the expectations of their peers and the general citizens. Even though everybody expects them to be of high integrity, they were found to have submitted their independence to the political class.

The past came to haunt these judges given that a huge chunk of accusations leveled against them took place during the time of Kanu regime. Both Justice Bosire and Nyamu were incriminated for their handling of the Goldenberg probe.

Issues of integrity were raised against Justice

Emmanuel O¡¯kubasu as he was accused of abetting the miscarriage of justice through dishonesty and negligence. Justice Omolo was accused of favouring the former President Moi in a case pitting him against Kenneth Matiba.

Credibility

According to Peter Kidaha, a career advisor, the most important career lesson to be learnt from what happened to the judges is that for one to be successful in his or her career, one must maintain the highest levels of integrity.

"There are no two ways when it comes to creating trust and credibility among those people whom you work with. You must be a person of high integrity. This is one sure way that can make others to respect you," says Kidaha.

"If you want bungle up your career, live a double life. It will not only make you lead a distressed life because of fear of being found out. And you may ultimately bring your career to an end if your misdeeds are brought to light," he says.

So how can you ensure that you maintain high levels of integrity?

"To ensure that you are a person of integrity, always make sure that you are accountable in whatever you do. Most people who raise integrity issues are likely to take shortcuts in whatever they do and end up creating mistrust," he advises.

"It also pays to work without expecting favours from those you work with or for. It is important that you be guided by professionalism in whatever you do. People will not trust you if all the time you are looking for possible advantages you may get by associating with a particular person," he adds.

Passion

Kidaha points out that people who have integrity in their work are able to show it through the passion they have in whatever they do.

"This is simply because they know what is important to them. Your integrity is what determines your character and career success," concludes Kidaha.

Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) said.

"For a Government to have created a decent jobs under the ILO standards, that job must contain some level of social security where a worker can access some form of healthcare, pension, and income security. But the jobs created today lack all that."

Social security systems are by design powerful economic and social stabilisers. They stabilise income of individuals who are affected by unemployment or under-employment, shielding workers from hardship and social instability.

They also stabilise aggregate domestic demand in times when external demand contracts due to reduced economic activity. But in the Kenyan situation, workers are left to face the vagarities of the economy with no protection.

Wanjawa also took issue with tripartite partners, Central Organisation of Trade Unions, Federation of Kenya Employers and the Government, saying they have failed to offer Kenyans any tangible pension cover under the ILO convention 102 in the more than 47 years of existence.

Leadership wanting

"The kind of union leadership in this country is wanting. It is laughable for a union to ask the Government to provide an employment policy when the same union has no employment policy of its own," Wanjawa explained.

He further points out that most Kenyans are job insecure. And with the overwhelming majority of Kenyans being unemployed, they cannot access social security, healthy care and therefore can afford a decent living.

"Total employment has increased from 1.16 million workers in 1979 to 10.96 million workers in 2010. However, the demand for employment has outstripped the rate at which our economy is generating opportunities," Kalonzo Musyoka, VP who represented President Mwai Kibaki at this year¡¯s 1st May Labour Day celebrations said.

"The Government is developing several policies aimed at creating, regulating and maintaining decent employment. The Government is in the process of developing an integrated National Employment Policy to ensure the rapid creation of decent and sustainable employment opportunities."

But the Cofek argues that the Government has been promising to implement an Employment Policy since 2006 on every Labour Day.

"To date, its been just promises with no tangible date in sight for one," Wanjawa added.

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