CORRUPTION-KENYA: Gov’t Weeds Out ‘Rotten Judges’

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Oct 17 2003 (IPS) - Kimani Mburu knows what it feels like to hang around court corridors in pursuit of justice.

For several months five years ago, Mburu moved from one courtroom to another to seek justice. His paternal uncle had built a house on his one-acre piece of land, the only asset he had inherited from his late father.

His quest for justice was put to test when the court ruled in favour of his uncle.

Mburu claims his uncle, a high-powered businessman, had bribed the judge.

"I remember my uncle mocking me that I could not afford to buy justice. He told me that even though the land was legally mine, it belonged to him because he ‘has what it takes’ to own it," a now landless Mburu told IPS in an interview.

Like Mburu, thousands of Kenyans have been denied justice because they cannot "offer a cup of tea to the judges". Mburu’s case brings to the fore the rot that has affected Kenya’s judicial system.

This week the government suspended 23 judges accused of corruption. Kenya has 45 judges.

The 23 judges, six from Appeal Court, the country’s highest bench, and 17 from High Court, have been suspended with immediate effect until the two tribunals, set up to probe the corruption allegations, release their findings.

The tribunals, appointed by President Mwai Kibaki on Oct. 15, will each investigate the Appeal and High Court judges, in addition to scrutinising alleged unethical practices and lack of integrity among the judges, as indicated in a special issue of the Kenya Gazette.

The list of corrupt officials, most of them, commanding a high standing in the country and beyond, is contained in a report of the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Committee on judiciary, released Sep. 30.

Chaired by Justice Aaron Ringera, the report says corrupt High Court judges rule in one’s favour in exchange for Ksh 50,000 (641 U.S. dollars) to 1.6 million (20,512 U.S. dollars), while magistrates receive a "handshake" of from Ksh 4000 (about 51 U.S. dollars) to 150,000 (1,923 U.S. dollars).

The report alleges that corruption among the judges include demanding and accepting bribes in cash and to some extent sexual favours in return to biased rulings.

Corruption also involves faking official receipts, abuse of office in concealing evidence and awarding promotions on the basis of patronage instead of merit.

According to the report, it costs from Ksh 40,000 (513 U.S. dollars) to one million (12,820 U.S. dollars) to be set free from murder or robbery with violence. These scenarios, according to a commentator, are a portrait of a country "whose rule of law has been thrown to the dogs".

Presenting the report to Chief Justice Evan Gicheru, Ringera noted, "We are apprehensive that in handing this to you, we are presenting to you a dragon: it is bound to snort, jump, kick and even attack, for corruption always fights back. Your Lordship will have no option but to seize it by the horns and slay it."

Gicheru responded, "This is a battle we are going to fight without looking backwards. We are going to mount this beast and wrestle it to the ground".

Soon after the report was released, Law Society of Kenya chairperson, Ahmendnasir Abdullahi called for the immediate resignation of the judges.

He said, "We are of the opinion that a judge who has been implicated in a corrupt deal cannot continue to sit even for a day, and should not be allocated any judicial duty".

Welcoming the move to suspend the judges, human rights activists have called for a complete overhaul of the judiciary.

"We welcome the current purge of the judiciary. However, nothing short of a complete overhaul would restore public confidence in the judiciary," says Oduor Ong’wen, a human right campaigner.

Majority of Kenyans have also welcomed the decision to rid the judiciary of "rotten judges".

"Illegal deals by the judges have contributed greatly to the poor economic state of our country," remarks Ondiek Oyiny, a newspaper vendor in Nairobi.

Rights activists have maintained that the decision by president Kibaki to appoint tribunals to investigate the judges is a landmark illustration by the new government to honour its election pledge of cleaning up the judiciary.

The ten-month old government came to power after democratic elections in December. It promised during its campaign trails to offer justice to Kenya’s 30 million people.