Open letter to Chief Justice Mutunga

Dear Honourable Chief Justice. Happy new year, albeit late.

When you were confirmed as the Chief Justice of the Republic of Kenya in 2011, Kenyans breathed a sigh of relief because they viewed you as a messiah who would ensure that justice is guaranteed to all.

However, this endorsement has now been eroded to an all-time low, with so many corruption cases being associated with the Judiciary.

To make matters worse, you have personally admitted that indeed there is rampant corruption in your institution! That is grave, to be honest. Admitting that there is corruption in the Judiciary is akin to admitting failure on your part.

To the hoi polloi like ourselves, we now know that justice is sold to the highest bidder or to the moneyed. This is not something you can just brush aside. It is the reality.

Sir, tell me, are Kenyan criminals only the poor and ordinary citizens? The last time I checked, there were over 55,000 prisoners in Kenyan overcrowded prisons. These are either chicken thieves, trespassers, drunkards, muggers and other petty offenders, yet the big guys, the drug barons, the insanely corrupt Government officials, political war mongers and the likes are walking scot-free, courtesy of our corrupt justice system.

With this reality, can you claim that you have a legacy to be proud of when you finally leave office?

I define failure as seeing a wrong and doing nothing about it. You have acknowledged that indeed corruption in your institution is rife, yet no heads have rolled. This is failure on your part. Period. There is no other name for it. Now, because personally you are not corrupt (there are no accusations or proof that you are), then the right thing to do to save yourself and restore your dignity is to simply resign.

This is the only way Kenyans and the world will know that you are the fresh fruit among the rotten, otherwise if you continue to mingle with the corrupt in your institution and just issuing statements about how corrupt some of your offices are, then you will be judged or assumed as corrupt as well.

As I conclude, let me tell you that Kenyans have no confidence in the Judiciary any more. Until the entire institution is thoroughly cleansed through a fresh vetting, we will keep that firm believe that justice is for sale in Kenya.