Children of a lesser god or is it the law?

The Law Society of Kenya's annual conference titled 'Insecurity and the Rule of Law' ended last week after deliberations that centred largely on fundamental rights and terrorism. The highlight was a 'gunny bag' speech by retired General of the Kenya Defence Forces Julius Karangi and the 'Enforcement of Human Rights' speech by Justice Schofield, which pulled in opposite directions.

Each delegate was left to draw his own conclusion between the two opinions. It seems this debate will continue to rage. In our view, two recurring themes came up which require further interrogation for consensus building in the republic and which were highlighted at the conference. First is the cause of the current spate of terrorism and secondly, the application of human rights during the trial process.

One of the foremost seniors, during the plenary, asked a potent question that needs to be considered further - about 'disturbing' provisions in the holy book which sanction the 'destruction by death of infidels'. That is in the same spirit and the running theme on Denis Onsarigo's investigative TV piece picked from Alfred Lord Tennyson's beautiful poem, Idylls of the King. Some of the phrases seemed to have known about our predicament during the 19th century, long before we were at it:

I waged His wars, and now I pass and die.

O me! for why is all around us here

As if some lesser god had made the world,

But had not force to shape it as he would,

Till the High God behold it from beyond,

And enter it, and make it beautiful?

Or else as if the world were wholly fair,

But that these eyes of men are dense and dim,

And have not power to see it as it is:

Perchance, because we see not to the close;—

For I, being simple, thought to work His will,

And have but stricken with the sword in vain;

And all whereon I leaned in wife and friend

Is traitor to my peace, and all my realm

Reels back into the beast, and is no more.

My God, thou hast forgotten me in my death;

Nay—God my Christ—I pass but shall not die

The presenter went on to say that such reading of the holy book is wrong interpretation of the holy book. That it is reading it out of context. That it belonged to a distant history. The jury is out about that answer.

This is what should be picked to guide discussions going forward. It forms the crux of why others would play god over other men. The notion that those others are children of a lesser god. If what the Professor said is true, then debate around this should be built robustly around the origin of such doctrines and theories and whether there is need to criminalise proponents of such 'terroristic' tendency. Or are we discussing spiritual concepts in our flesh?

Secondly, the trial process involves arrest, bond trial, hearing and sentencing. That presupposes that the suspect would like to continue to live and bond terms actually secure them from actualising decisions to create terror. Or even that arresting is safe and the arresting officer will not be vapourised by a bond. We fear that if they are true terrorists, the fear of death is not there.

The entire criminal system therefore does not provide safeguards for implementing the Bill of Rights. We need something more substantive and alternate debate to find fault in Lord Denning's arguments in Republic versus Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Hosenball when he said: ''In a case where national security is involved, and our history shows that, when the state itself is endangered, our cherished freedoms may have to take second place. Even natural justice itself may suffer a set-back. Time after time, Parliament has so enacted and the courts have loyally followed..."

That was said in time of war. But times of peace hold their dangers too. Spies, subverters and saboteurs may be mingling amongst us, putting on a most innocent exterior. They may be endangering the lives of the men...

Is it time rules of natural justice are modified in order to fight terrorism? We shudder with fear that should it happen, civilisation of mankind shall suffer tremendous ruin.

The fight against terror does not require soft gloves as perpetrators are no respecters of the law. They have so far not tabled any credible political agenda relevant to our circumstances in Kenya or at all. Those responsible for organising, instigating, facilitating, participating in, financing, encouraging or tolerating terrorist activities should be reined in to ensure measures for curbing terror are successful. They are the cog to such anti-social criminal activities.

The irony of all these is that it is only the children of a lesser god who defend their god in war, while at the same time believing that their god is superior than for all others without saying so in explicit terms.

Let the debate prosper.