Carpenter who dared apply for Chief Justice job despite tiny CV

Paul Andrew Kongani Udoto Kongani, a carpenter and law student applied for the Chief Justice's position. [Photo: James Mwangi]

He is a carpenter and a law student, but he shocked many by applying for the highly competitive position of Chief Justice.

Despite his not-so-impressive credentials, Paul Andrew Kongani Udoto Kongani had the courage to dream big.

“Mimi ni mtu wa Jua kali (I am an artisan) but I have what it takes to be the next CJ. That is why I applied for the position,” the 39-year-old starts off the interview at his work shop in Nairobi.

Though soft spoken, he speaks with deep conviction.

He says were it not for the 15 years experience requirement and clearance documents from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) and Certificate of Good Conduct from the Criminal Investigation Department, he would have nailed it.

To acquire a clearance certificate from HELB non-beneficiaries are expected to pay Sh1,000 fee, money he could not afford, thus limiting his chances of landing the job.

While other applicants had bulky and intimidating CVs that read like books, he only scribbled four pages of the same. Infact, his was so small, he confesses he even struggled in a bid to impress the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) panelists.

“I am a lawyer and a student at the Kenya School of Law,” Kongani tells The Standard on Sunday.

Why, pray did he apply for such a plum job, yet chances were so high that he would not make it past the first elimination stage?

He says, passion to serve the public gave him the courage to apply.

Mr Kongani goes on: “I believe the Supreme Court ought to have a mix of old people and the young as courts serve people of all ages.”

Still, the man with a long name, has overcome hurdle after hurdle to be where he is.

He took 11 solid years to complete his law degree at the Moi University because many a times, he could not afford fees and at some point had to drop out at a critical stage.

His father (Mzee Wawire Kongani) died in 2004, when he was just about to graduate with a degree in law but had a huge fee balance.

“I had a fee balance of about Sh250,000. My mother (Petronilla Nelima) could only afford Sh5,000. My clan contributed Sh3,000 after two-year reassurance and my elder brother Sh3,000,” he narrates.

His shelved his dream to be a lawyer and started a carpentry a shop at Naburereya, Bungoma County with Sh600. With time, the business peaked and he was able to save up Sh300,000. In 2007, he enrolled back for his law degree and graduated in 2011. A year after graduation, Kongani says he tried a hand in marketing but it did not work out.

He returned to carpentry last year and with the help of his former university friends, raised money to join the Kenya School of Law.

Against the odds

And what’s his take on the CJ recruitment?

“The government should lift the experience requirement clauses as they lock out youth with great potential. The idea that you need to be 37 years at least to get a proper job is discrimination,” he says. The State, he points out should also waive clearance fees for acquisition of good conduct certificates as it locks out young but competent candidates.

And what if he had landed the job, what would have been his agenda? He said he would have to first change JSC, adding that lawyers should not sit in it as it amounts to conflict of interest.