Moni Wekesa: The academic giant in the hot CJ seat today

Prof Wekesa Moni is interviewed for the position of Chief Justice at the Supreme Court. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

Double PhD holder Prof Moni Wekesa is today defending his interest in the position of Chief Justice.

Dr Wekesa is currently the Dean of Law at Daystar University and boasts of 16 years of experience in law.

The scholar has two doctorates in two different academic fields, two master's degrees, and bachelor’s degrees in two different fields. He fancies being referred to by the titles, Prof. Dr. Dr. Moni Wekesa.

He is both an associate professor of law and sports medicine and holds a Master's and Ph.D. in sports medicine.

In a black suit, he expressed to the panel on Thursday morning why he deserves to be Kenya’s next Chief Justice.

“I am a transformative leader. I am a good communicator, I am good at problem-solving and at listening. I am consultative,” he responded.

In his first three months should he be appointed CJ, Prof Wekesa says his priority will be to mend the Judiciary’s relationship with other arms of government.

“The second thing I will do is to make allies. To take Judiciary to the people. I want the people to own the Judiciary where they are able to associate with it and want to know what’s done. I'm thinking about boda boda riders, they have a stake in the Judiciary. I would want us to reach out to them so that they are able to feel that the Judiciary is theirs,” he told the panelists.

This way, he says that they would then have no reason to worry about corruption in the Judiciary given that the people would tell them.

He was also taken to task over his strengths in Physical Education vis-à-vis the law.

To which he responded: “I have spent more time in law than I have in physical education. You would not be right in looking at my PE papers more. I have qualifications in both.”

The law professor was the founding Dean at Mt Kenya University School of Law, where he says he hired staff and recruited students.

He then moved to Daystar University where he spearheaded the establishment and accreditation of the law school.

The search for Kenya’s next Chief Justice continues amid uncertainty after the High Court yesterday stopped JSC from evaluating the candidates further.

The commission has already interviewed eight of ten candidates including Justice Said Chitembwe, Justice Martha Koome, Philip Murgor, Prof Patricia Mbote, Justice David Marete, Justice Nduma Nderi, Senior Counsel Fred Ngatia and Judge William Ouko.

Prof Moni Wekesa is on the hot seat today while Alice Yano will be interviewed tomorrow.

The interviews end tomorrow, April 23.