Interesting times ahead in the socio-legal world. This blog
will interrogate the issues that affect Kenya’s and the world’s ‘social
fabrique’ from a legal perspective. A lot will be happening on this front.
Matters ICC
The Hague trials will resume. Debates around the genuineness
of the prosecutions and the politics of the ICC will definitely get back to the
lips of many both locally and internationally. There will again emerge voices
for an African renewal and we’ll be observing the African Union to see how
objectively it will try to push the “African-ness” agenda. This blog will not
refrain from scorning the African Union when it strongly believes that it’s
agenda is pushed by an exclusive club of old dictators keen on protecting their
behinds from harmful acts they are likely to commit on their own people. This
blog will however applaud any genuine African voice that seeks a renewal for
the African woman, child, elderly, marginalized, person with disability etc. African
human rights system constantly plagued by funding concerns will be scrutinized.
Migrant Rights
This blogger has since developed an interest in issues
affecting migrants both forced and voluntary. Speaking of which …. This blog
will closely scrutinize efforts by the African Union while pushing the African
agenda to see if it lends a listening ear to the plight of the many migrants
being overtly ill treated by the Israeli government and who yesterday
commendably staged a protest to bring the issues to the attention of the
international community. Gandhi said (paraphrase) that a government’s worth is
measured by how it treats the weakest members of society. The migrant issue is
a major one both regionally and internationally. Here we have forced migrants
while abroad we have economic migrants who either due to persecution or tough
life swap their normal lives for tough and uncertain lives in the Diaspora. If
the AU continues to turn a deaf ear to the sighing and groaning of migrants in
Israel and the Middle East … then it has absolutely no business claiming to
protect African interests.
Somalia Repatriation
Speaking of forced migrants, this blog intends to write
extensively on the implementation of the tri-partite agreement between the
Governments of Kenya and Somalia and the United Nations High Commission for
Refugees. Utterances by Kenyan state officials so far already raise questions
about the genuineness of the Kenya Government involvement in the agreement. The
elaborate processes contained therein make voluntary repatriation a lengthy process
and not an event. We hope that the principle of Non-refoulment and the dignity
of the human will be protected throughout this process.
Devolution
Implementation
This blog will scrutinize discussions that are likely to
benefit or water down the process of devolution. This blog is concerned that
Members of the County Assemblies still have very little knowledge of the
importance of their role in the devolution process. Accountability – an
underlying principle behind this process will be very important. The continuing
struggle between the governors and the central government on one side, the
governors and the senators on the other and further still the Senators and the
members of the national assembly threatens to derail the process of devolution.
The constitution envisions coordination, concerted effort, selflessness and
statesmanship in ensuring a successful process. Hopefully the stakeholders will
see how important these principles are.
The Politics of the
Profession
This blog will also examine the politics within the legal
profession and how this will affect the ability of the law society of Kenya to
keep the executive, parliament and the judiciary ‘on toes’ as it ought to and
an important civil society organization. The Chairperson-ship, council
membership, membership to the Disciplinary Committee and the hotly contested
membership to the Judicial Service Commission will be up for grabs. It is the
hope of every Kenyan that a stronger Law Society will emerge from this process.
Legal Aid
Legal Aid is a topic dear to this blogger’s heart. The legal
aid bill in this country has stalled. It is not fashionable to bring such a
piece of proposed legislation to the floor of the house at this point in time.
There is a parallel push for the inclusion of legal aid as a post-2015 millennium
development goal agenda. Kenya is very much involved in the post-2015 MDGs
discussions. Hopefully this will influence the need to hasten the enactment of
this very important law in Kenya. Access to justice is a right in our
constitution thus making any impediment to the actualization of this right
unconstitutional. Legal Aid cuts in the UK threaten access to justice and
lawyers have been mobilized to protest against this. Such events ought to
inform our approach to the issue.
Hopefully this year will see strides – if not leaps in the
socio-legal world. Let us take this journey together….
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