Once again the JSC is 'on-point' in its latest appointment of 7 new judges of the Court of Appeal. The ration of appointments is clearly in favour of the women i.e. 5 out of the 7 are women. This follows the earlier appointment of 28 new judges of the High Court 13 of whom were women. Indeed, the Court of Appeal has been largely identified with a perpetual delay in the administration with many calling upon it to work at changing its public image. Indeed, the Justice William Ouko led Task force report not only only found that there were vacancies at the court of appeal (11 instead of the then 14 allowed) but even out of the 11 judges, there was no woman judge at the Court of Appeal.
The Constitution of Kenya, as a result of a reflection on some of these grave inequities and disparities is very clear on the issue of gender representation at all levels of and in all arms of government. Whether a woman judge matters can be seen from some reflections in this rather short, simple but very interesting article here. Indeed, from the simplest of reasons; that our young daughters and sisters should begin seeing themselves as future great lawyers and outstanding judges, to the more complicated and controversial as seeing women as being more sensitive to the gender sensitive issues, one thing that cannot be proverbially 'swept under the carpet', is the importance of having a judiciary that to the eyes of the entire public, is sensitive to the plight of the voiceless in society and is capable of impartially administering justice.
We applaud the actions of the JSC in taking its rightful role, independently administering justice devoid of and interference from the political arms of government and a defence of its actions and those of its constituent members by the leadership of the judiciary. We further applaud the efforts to improve its public image, which, contrary to previous perceptions, amounts to alot in the administration of justice.
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