BY SAM ALFAN .
A statement issued by Senior Counsel Bar condemning the re-arrest of suspects released on bail has divided the prestigious club of senior lawyers with a section disowning the press release.
The statement issued by Dr Fred Ojiambo on Friday, as the chairman of the senior counsel bar said they were dismayed by reports of planned re-arrest of Embakasi East MP Babu Owino soon after he was released by a Nairobi court on bail.
Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi immediately dismissed the statement saying they were Ojiambo’s personal views and did not represent views of Senior Counsel Bar.
Ahmednasir urged members of the public to disregard the statement and tagged senior counsel Paul Muite, Senator Tom Ojienda, Former LSK President Nelson Havi and Law Society of Kenya in a tweet.
Ojienda who is also the Kisumu senator confirmed he was a stranger to Ojiambo’s letter adding that there was no consultation or any meeting to instruct the chairman to issue the statement
“I confirm that there has not been any consultation and or any meeting to instruct and or permit SC Fred Ojiambo to issue such a communique on behalf of all Senior Counsel.
“I am stranger to this notice. I confirm that there has not been any consultation and or any meeting to instruct and or permit SC Fred Ojiambo to issue such a communique on behalf of all Senior Counsel. I am stranger to this notice,” tweeted Ojienda responding to Ahmednasir.
Havi, the immediate former LSK president said, “To be a Sage is to know how to please a lion and hurry a tortoise,”.
Ojiambo had said in the statement that although Senior Counsel Bar cannot intermeddle in the details of the actual proceedings, if the claims were true, there is cause for all people of goodwill, those who are concerned about the rule of law and justice, to be disturbed.
Ojiambo said such acts should be condemned.
“The right to bail is constitutional. Where persons are duly admitted to hail by a court of competent jurisdiction, any person who frustrates the court order commits justiciable contempt of court. Worse still, such action is an egregious violation of the sanctity of the edifice upon which democratic society is founded. And lastly, such behaviour is a sure way of sliding into autocracy,” Ojiambo said.
He added the constitution and the legitimate laws made pursuant to it are not mere pieces of paper.
“They are hallowed values meant to provide limitations to the manner in which coercive power may be employed in order to ensure a tranquil society in which all persons may achieve their highest potential without let or hindrance,” the statement read.
He added that the constitution and legitimate laws provide for the right environment for growth and development of all persons.
“We ignore or trash the constitution and just government of all at the risk of ushering in chaos. And such turmoil would not only hurt those who for the time being appear to have no power,” he said.
Dr Ojiambo had warned that terrorizing the people into silence may offer a short lived illusion of peace.
“But it may well be the lull before the storm,” he said.
