Lawyers clash on Ahmednasir’s credibility ahead of key elections

By WILLIS OKETCH

MOMBASA, KENYA: Lawyers in Mombasa are sharply divided over the professional credibility of controversial lawyer Ahmednasir Abdillahi.

This follows allegations that he forged his pupillage certificate two decades ago as an intern at the law firm of the late lawyer Peter Simani.

The matter was raised by Mombasa lawyer Michael Oloo at the launch of Ahmednasir’s campaign to be re-elected to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in Mombasa on Friday evening, which was boycotted by all officials of the local Law Society of Kenya (LSK) branch which has endorsed Ahmednasir’s challenger, Prof Tom Ojienda.

“I would like to know whether Ahmednasir can really be called an advocate of the High Court of Kenya,” Oloo said, throwing the meeting into silence.

The lawyer said Ahmednasir and his friends had tried to ignore claims made by businessman Brian Yongo who had sworn that he (Ahmednasir) had no valid pupillage certificate.

Another challenger, Mr Okong’o Omogeni, who is also a former LSK chairman, challenged Ahmednasir to prove his critics wrong by addressing the matter. He said the issue never came to the fore when he was LSK chairman but should be addressed by the current leaders of the society.

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Omogeni who spoke to The Standard on phone Tuesday also claimed LSK and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission had not investigated claims that the ongoing elections for the lawyers’ body were influenced by bribery.

“The person involved (in the pupillage saga) should come clean on this matter. We need answers from Ahmednasir,” said Omogeni.

He claimed LSK’s reputation has been tainted by claims that its representative in the JSC had been assailed by ‘scandalous allegations’.

But contacted, Ahmednasir said: “I do not want to comment on the matter. I am sure of beating my opponents hands down.”

He in turn accused his challenger, Prof Ojienda, of failing to prevent the alteration of the land chapter in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report, a claim Ojienda denied when he addressed Mombasa lawyers last week Wednesday.

On Friday, some lawyers argued that despite his many achievements as lawyer and former LSK chairman, fundamental questions had since been raised about his professional past, previously unknown.

Some lawyers argued that Ahmednasir had not fully addressed any questions raised against his professional probity.

Others alleged that Ahmednasir had frustrated attempts by practicing lawyers to join the bench while also holding law graduates from some universities in low regard.

Ahmednasir’s supporters, led by lawyer Patrick Ochwa who led the launch, were at pains to defend him over the pupillage claims, with some lawyers demanding the latter who did not turn up for the launch as expected, allegedly after missing a flight to Nairobi should come to Mombasa to address the issue directly to professional colleagues.

About 100 lawyers attended the event.

Lawyer Wamuti Ndegwa described Ahmednasir as a steadfast defender of rights and justice who could stand up to Parliament and the Executive.

He asked lawyers to ignore ‘parochial’ criticisms levelled against the candidate from the Mombasa bar.

Ochwa who denied reports that he had received Sh500,000 to support Ahmednasir’s campaign stunned the meeting by disclosing that although he had been friends with Ahmednasir since their days at the University of Nairobi, he could not tell whether the law firm where he (Ahmednasir) took his pupillage was registered 20 years ago.

“When we were doing our pupillage he was in the firm of (the late) Simani but what I cannot confirm is the status of the firm at that time,” said Ochwa, who instead accused the offices of the Chief Justice, Registrar of the Judiciary and past chairmen of LSK of not addressing the matter until now.