Lawyers, State must set stage for the rule of law to prevail

Kenya prides herself as a bastion of democracy. As a nation, we aspire for democratic ideals including regular, free and fair elections; fidelity to the rule of law and respect to individual rights and liberties.

A few years ago, this country nearly went to the dogs on account of a hotly disputed presidential election contest. The consequences of our dalliance with the law of the jungle are being felt to date, more than seven years after we pulled ourselves from the precipice. Following the 2013 presidential election, whose outcome was also contested, the aggrieved parties sought redress from the courts. And when the Supreme Court pronounced itself on the matter, all parties chose to abide by that decision.

The conduct of the litigants on this particular case was hailed by many as a strong statement on the maturing of our politics and the deepening of our democracy. But over the last few months, activity on the corridors of justice and public responses to court rulings threaten to throw us back to the dark old days; in fact certain happenings threaten to roll back the gains and strides we have made as a people towards a beautiful Kenya for all of us.

The Judiciary is a critical arm of government on which democracy and the rule of law must be firmly anchored. But from lawyers to magistrates to judges, there are warning signs that all is not well. Early this year, Kenyans were treated to a shouting match at a meeting of lawyers which ended in disarray. Only yesterday, a planned Annual General Meeting called by the Law Society of Kenya – the umbrella body for all practising lawyers in the country – aborted over disputes relating to undisclosed perks and claims of skewed allocation of state jobs.

Majority of Kenyans are socialised to view lawyers as people they can turn to and obtain justice. In fact, many Kenyans hold the legal profession in very high esteem. And so when lawyers crudely expose their disagreements on basic administrative issues of their own profession – whether it is the dress code, or the proposed construction of their own arbitration centre or even the election of their leaders – then ordinary Kenyans are left wondering how they are expected to turn to the same legal minds to seek amicable solutions to their bitter disputes – solutions to more serious issues like land ownership, family disputes and benefit sharing among many others.

We call on the lawyers to step back and realise that playing out their disputes, and in the manner they do, would only serve to dilute public confidence in them. The end result of this is that more Kenyans would lose faith in lawful resolution of disputes and tend towards the law of the jungle. Ultimately this would usher in anarchy and collapse of the country’s legal system.

The legal profession is a noble one and those trained, examined and certified to practise law must be seen to jealously uphold the rule of law. But the other arms of Government must also be seen to be deliberately doing their bit to uphold the rule of law. The recent pronouncement by the President that his government would not obey a court order to increase the salaries of teachers is most unfortunate. When a bad example is set at the top, it becomes popular at the lower levels of government and society. The presidency is the symbol of national stability and order. From the presidency, Kenyans expect to see and emulate obedience to the law.

And lastly, the dispute at the Supreme Court over the retirement age of judges is one that the highest court in the land and the Judicial Service Commission must find time and reason to resolve without further ado. It is scaring to see Supreme Court judges writing to the JSC and threatening “a moratorium on all of the Supreme Court judicial operations”.

Let the rule of law prevail.