Judiciary, Executive need to work together for change and progress

Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once wrote: “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

President Uhuru Kenyatta has shown intent, from the moment he took office, on leading an agenda of progress and development, quite the desirable overhaul of our systems.

Actions have been impacted for the better.

Opposition has become ally, those involved in corruption no longer have carte blanche for their excesses and the people are more readily and regularly engaged on central issues of the State.

Change has come to Kenya, because without it no progress could possibly be made.

However, one can argue not everyone has received the memo that there is a new way of doing things.

Chief Justice David Maraga recently publicly accused President Kenyatta of disobeying his request to appoint 41 judges and for failing to rein in officials who continue to violate the rights of thousands of people.

It is deeply troubling when the head of the judicial branch publicly harangues the president.

Also, the people lose trust in the system if they see the different State branches openly squabbling, especially when there are numerous channels in which to send messages in private and through official channels.

Nonetheless, the most egregious error here is the fact that there was no reason to make this a public spat.

Chief Justice Maraga claimed that he was left frustrated because he had not been able to meet with President Kenyatta to discuss the appointments. On the other hand, members of the Judicial Service Commission said the Chief Justice and the Head of State had met for nearly an hour in February.

Those who were present at the meeting say that there was already an agreement on many issues, including on the matter of the appointments.

President Kenyatta was reported to have told Chief Justice Maraga that he was looking very carefully at judicial appointments who did not have any integrity issues. 

So this is not just a matter of placing people on the bench to make up the numbers, but needs careful screening and planning to ensure that the right people would be chosen who could earn the publics’ trust.

It is President Kenyatta’s obligation to appoint judges who are beyond repute, a process that can take some time.

The president was about to make the appointments in the coming days, so the outburst by the Chief Justice makes even less sense.

Unless, of course he had received wind of some of the names and wanted to get ahead of the debate by trying to tar the process and the reputation of the person who makes the recommendations.

Beyond these suspicions, the central point here is not about doing something rushed. It is about doing something right.

We are blessed to live in a new type of Kenya where the integrity of public officials needs to be at its highest. 

President Kenyatta has already led the early stages of the battle against corruption with distinction. The playing field has definitely changed and any deviation from the path could see our country revert to its bad old ways when corruption was accepted and seen as inevitable.

This is the progress that we have witnessed over the last few years, and it has been impressive to say the least.

Those who try and stifle progress need to change or step aside. There is a new wind blowing in our country and for the sake of the people, one can either go with it, or try to fight it.

There are those in the system who are used to the old and outdated ways of doing things, but they cannot be allowed to suppress change, and progress and development.

We need our officials, the various sections of government and the judiciary to be pulling together, united in their sense of responsibility and accountability to the people.

Mr Leo is a public policy analyst. Mylesleo19@gmail.com