BY SAM ALFAN.
Senior Counsel Paul Muite has praised Dr.Willy Mutunga for transforming the Judiciary into a transparent institution and for bringing accountability when he became the first Chief Justice under the new constitution on June 22, 2011.
Muite said Dr.Mutunga understood the direct and indirect, existing and new threats to the judiciary and set out to chart the way forward for a nation that had a few months earlier expressed itself through a referendum and had put the old order on notice.
Speaking during the launch of a book by former CJ Mutunga titled ‘Beacons of Judiciary Transformation’, the veteran lawyer said upon assuming the Office of the CJ, Dr Mutunga knew of the struggles to transform the legal practices, jurisprudential orientation and institutional culture of the Kenyan judiciary in order to align it with the demands of the 2010 Constitution.
“Conscientious leader whose integrity has always been beyond reproach in the sea of corruption-swirling around our nation speaks through the pages of this book, not of taking power,” he said.
Muite said in his view, the independence of the judiciary should not be sacrificed at the alter of unconstitutional judicial accountability mechanisms.
“It is possible to pursue both through constitutional means and these are issues that preoccupied us during the second liberation struggle and remain challenging,” Muite added.
In the book, Dr Mutunga documents the judiciary as from the time he assumed office, its sticking issues during his term, and where things stood when he left and what the Kenyan public deserves to know.
Muite added that, while the Judiciary can and must indeed play its role, the transformation of the Kenyan society needs the other institutions and arms of government to play their role as well.
“Ultimately, the real guarantor for the Rule of Law is an informed public and the one enduring achievement of the second liberation is the empowerment of the Kenyan people,” he said.
SC Muite added that no one, not even the occupier of the office of the President will ever succeed in taking Kenya back to dictatorship.
The Constitution, Rule of Law, an Independent Judiciary, he stated are means to an end, the end being economic and social empowerment of the people; freedom from want adding that this was the destination of the second liberation that remains to be reached.
Kenya, he said remains on path despite the “two steps forward, one step backwards being witnessed”.
“The book also showcases how the podium (speeches), the bench (judicial opinions), and the academy (journal articles and lectures), could be used to provide transformative leadership. This culture should be embraced by all of us who aspire to build our constitutional democracy,” he pointed out.
Muite said it was during Chief Justice Mutunga’s term that the office of the judiciary ombudsman was launched.
He said it was done in a way that protected the independence of the judiciary, which is not only an important constitutional value but a critical institutional pillar.
“It rests with the leader of an institution to
secure accountability by its officers, and to address challenges internal accountability mechanisms face and this is a mandate
derived from the text of the Constitution and demands of effective, accountable leadership.
He added that Mutunga’s commitment to Kenya becoming a democratic State governed by the rule of law and not the rule of men provided much needed clarity of thought in the second liberation struggle.
“It is the same clarity of thought and commitment that is evident in the pages of this book. We see a leader who understood Kenya’s legal history from the colonial times through to the many missed steps following independence in 1963,” added Muite.
To this historic moment in Kenya’s history, he brought leadership honed over decades, Muite concluded.
The launch was attended by Chief Justice Martha Koome,Former Chief Justice David Maraga, Senior Counsel Martha Karua, veteran photographer “all the CJs” Zakheem Rajan who has served all the three Chief Justice among others.
