A Human Rights Defender's Perspective

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Post backdated to 20th November, 2017:  About 2 weeks ago, i was called up by a seniour lawyer who asked me to join him for an early morning meeting. It is at that meeting that i was invited to be part of the legal team preparing a petition challenging the election of Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta - Supreme Court Presidential Petition 4 of 2017.  To have been found worthy of inclusion for this assignment is humbling, any lawyer (young or old) would be excited at such an opportunity. An opportunity to practice law at Kenya’s  apex court, in one of the most contentious issue the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over! One hell of an emotive issue too!  I accepted and was immediately tasked with the preparation of the Petition’s principal affidavit. The next 7 days were going to be a roller coaster. From sleepless nights and nights with little sleep, to change of location nearly 4 times for fear of police raids, late night meetings with lawyers i never dream...

20/07/17 - Well Al Ghurair's printers can now be switched on to Presidential Ballot Paper printing mode (if they weren't already printing). The CoA has pronounced itself and as is consistent in a society that values the rule of law, it must be respected ... or appealed. But no not an appeal again NASA ..... Let the elections proceed!  For a fact, it throws the Article 10 principle on public participation into a spin. Yes political expediency Court of Appeal ...  but my lords, what does public participation mean to you!? At least give us some direction...  Well the cases might have been filed to address interests of candidates but the issues raises certainly raise matters of public interest, we are all stakeholders in Kenya's electoral processes.  I have come to appreciate public interest litigation to mean litigation where there is no winner looser distinction. At the end of exercise, persons have been given an opportunity to ventilate, matters which would ...

As we head towards elections it is expected that while the Opposition uses its mobilization skills and local networks around the country to “spread the word” on its behalf, the Incumbent shall as is the tradition rely heavily on state machinery and structures to popularize its re-election agenda. As the hunt for votes gears up as we approach the election year, the role of the National Government Administrative Officers will rear its ugly head yet again, exposing the feeble underbelly of the relationship between the National and County Governments. Again, the constitutional mantra of interdependence between these two levels of government will be tested. It is at this stage that a “restructured provincial administration” will either show proof that it can, intends to and has shaken off its former, post- colonial public image, or will as is widely expected take up its traditional monsterish, authoritarian role and push the government’s political agenda. The Constitution lf Ke...

As we observe the defamation proceedings between Deputy President William Ruto and Activist Boniface Mwangi, words and phrases keep flying around. Without going into the merits of the case – the matter being under judicial consideration and therefore prohibited from public discussion, the public ought to be enlightened of some of these words and terminologies. I will rely on a simple example to explain. Kamau files papers in court accusing Wafula of uttering or writing certain words causing damage to his reputation. This is what you would call a claim. Wafula while exercising his right of reply has two options; he can file papers denying the accusation even denying ever uttering or writing those words – this would be called a defence, or Wafula may opt to file a claim within Kamau’s claim with the intention of defending himself and offsetting Kamau’s claim even surpassing the enormity of Kamau’s claim. In this case, not only does Wafula deny what he is accused of, he goes on to sh...

The past few weeks have seen matters education back in the news. I continue appreciating how much education is talked about these days. It is my belief that the more matters education make for public conversation, the more scrutiny the public exercises towards those tasked with ensuring the right to education is properly implemented, the more we begin to identify which actors in the education sector are an impediment to the provision of accessible and quality basic education, the better our education system will become. A few months back the Cabinet Secretary Education was in trouble for abdicating his responsibilities of ensuring an adherence to law and policy on school fees. Previously the CS issued a directive putting a cap on amount of school fees to be charged by public basic education institutions but failed to have it implemented. The failure to implement meant Schools' Boards of management continued running public schools like private properties. Further, and sadly, it mean...