Parasitic wasps seem to have landed in our courts

By Charles Kanjama

Taxonomy, namely the classification of living things, is an area of biology that can be quite boring or extremely exciting, largely dependent on the teacher.

There are five major kingdoms, namely animals, plants, bacteria, fungi and protozoa. In the kingdom Animalia you find phyla like vertebrates, worms, sponges and molluscs, as well as the phylum Arthropoda for animals with an external skeleton.

Among arthropods, there are five major classes, namely insects, arachnids or spiders, crustaceans, centipedes and millipedes. Insects are numerous and include several orders such as beetles, cockroaches, flies, termites, butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, fleas and termites.

One of the insect orders is called Hymenoptera, derived from the Greek ‘hymen’ meaning membrane and ‘pteron’ meaning wing. It includes insects that usually have two pairs of wings, a lengthy sucking proboscis and a blade-like sting.

Within the order Hymenoptera, you have several families including wasps, bees, hornets and ants. Wasps are a fascinating study subject. Almost every pest insect species has a wasp species that preys upon it. The wasp family Ichneumonidae is arguably the largest animal family with an estimated 60,000 species worldwide. Ichneumon wasps have an extra-long and curved abdomen, and typically use their stings for attack and not just defence. They are rather brutal, and cannibalise their insect prey by laying their larva in them.

The Ichneumon family has hundreds of genera. One genus called Hymenoepimecis is found mainly in Central and South America, and has only about nine species, all with similar behaviour. One species, Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga, is found only in Costa Rica. Like its brother species, it preys on spiders. The adult female of the wasp immobilises the host spider with venom from its sting, then lays its egg on the spider’s abdomen. The spider soon recovers and continues spinning its web.

However, the wasp larva grows by sucking the spider’s fluids. After about two weeks, the larva uses a chemical to change the spider’s behaviour. Instead of spinning a normal orb web, the spider spins a strong cocoon web that the larva needs. Shortly after the spider concludes this task, the larva paralyses the spider, kills it, sucks the spider dry and builds a cocoon with the spider’s web as support. It then transforms into a pupa, metamorphoses into an adult wasp and the cycle begins again.

The evolutionist Charles Darwin was appalled by this behaviour, leading him to doubt God’s existence and benevolence. He wrote in an 1860 letter, “There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of [their prey].”

Ichneumon wasps are lethal predators. They are also ruthless, tricking their host into acting normally while they suck it dry. These parasitic wasps are a metaphor for corruption, which gradually sucks away the lifeblood of society, surreptitiously coding its victims to act against their best interests. Follow the life cycle of the parasitic wasp and you find a trail of bodies, dried-out victims and shattered lives, left in its wake.

Parasitic wasps illustrate the viciousness of corruption in the legal-justice system. Whether it is a judge or a magistrate, an advocate or a prosecutor, other Judiciary staff, police or a litigant, the corrupt person leaves a trail of shattered lives in their wake. Their venom harms the legal system, slows down the wheels of justice, and converts the system into a cash cow, with no regard for truth, justice and right.

All forms of corruption are terrible, but methinks judicial corruption is of the worst genre. It can turn a doubting Darwin into an atheist. It can destroy the putative reforms introduced by the new Constitution and reverse all the gains. If litigants cannot be sure of fair resolution of their claims, then the whole justice system will gradually collapse.

That is why I worry about the recent spat between the Judicial Service Commission and the Chief Registrar. But even more, I am worried about the re-emergence of graft in some courts. The whispers are growing, and the outlook is bleak. If the war against corruption will not claim victims, don’t be surprised if corruption itself claims victims, as viciously ruthlessly and persistently as the parasitic wasps.

The writer is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya