Supreme Court sleepwalking onto radical surgeon's table

Beatrice Maina

Courts of law at the apex of national judicial systems ought to serve as the compass by which the proper direction and status of a country’s jurisprudence is to be determined. As an apex court from which there is no appeal, the Supreme Court of Kenya is expected to provide principled and reasoned answers to substantive questions of law.

This expectation is the basis of the rule that its decisions must be reasoned, consistent, coherent and reasonably determinate. When adhered to, this rule creates certainty so that advocates, judges and litigants alike can reasonably predict or explain judicial outcomes.