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While addressing the annual judges conference in Mombasa last week, Chief Justice Willy Mutunga raised the alarm over the return of grand corruption to the Judiciary.
The CJ was also at pains to understand why judges, who are among the top paid Government officers, should succumb to the temptation of corruption.
When Dr Mutunga came into office in 2011, many Kenyans were optimistic that he was the right person to fix all the ills in the corridors of justice.
While it is true that the CJ has brought some reforms in the Judiciary that include easing the backlog of cases, infrastructure development and discipline among judicial officers, much is still needed to be done for the Judiciary to gain the full confidence of Kenyans.
Kenyans yearn for the kind of Judiciary that will provide fair dispensation of justice regardless of the social, political and economic position of individuals
Constitutional dispensation
With Mutunga’s tenure set to end in June 2017, Kenyans will be eager to know what legacy he is going to leave at the Judiciary.
And being the first CJ under the new constitutional dispensation, many expect him to raise the bar.
He has a limited time before his term ends and he should move away from mere warnings and immediately initiate another vetting of judges and magistrates linked to corruption claims and, if found guilty, convict them before he leaves office.
Some courts clerks have overstayed in some stations and have developed a symbiotic relationships with judges and magistrates. It has been said that they are even able to read the minds of judges and magistrates before some rulings are made.
The CJ needs to fully complete judicial reforms before his retirement.
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