A Human Rights Defender's Perspective

Long break from writing but an ample opportunity to reflect on our gains so far and the need to have persons of strong will and untainted character, who would never hesitate to go to unfathomable heights to ensure respect for the rule of law – especially the constitution and the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms. It is in this regard that I wish to highlight two characters with no similarities whatsoever but who both have/had a chance to do right and/or make right. Number 1 – Our Very Own Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister, and Son from the loin of Our Nation’s great Founding Father. The law is very clear on the budget reading process. Though quite elaborate, the writers of this constitution were fully aware of the challenges it would pose. However, they were more importantly alive to the fact that things had to change. The budget making process is one where Kenyans must be involved in. The era (error) of budgets shrouded in mystery (and purpose...

                                                  Like many Africans I have reservations with the west prescribing ‘sound solutions’ for African problems, and would therefore in many ways align myself with African scholars who have had enough of meddling by the west in the guise of offering much needed, sensible, practical solutions and elucidations about how to successfully steer countries from histories of autocracy, dictatorship and poor governance to the path of democracy. Indeed, nothing would make me more proud than successful home-grown solutions for the seemingly endless challenges faced by many African countries. As a matter of fact I have no doubt of Africa ’s capability to resolve to address its own challenges as individual states...

As vetting approaches and the potentially high number of judicial officers likely to face the ‘phase 2’ purge… lawyers are falling over each other trying to polish their résumés in the hope of filling up the already empty slots as well as the soon to be vacancies. Hence begs the questions, are these legal practitioners (even with their impressive résumés) going to qualify for these positions? Are they really going to prove that they are persons of integrity? Are we likely to get a fresh deluge of ‘wikileakes’ discrediting their claims as persons of integrity? I have no doubt that many in my profession are persons who conduct their businesses either in private practice, public service or civil society with the highest level of integrity…..but then how many???    As I read the Article is The Standard on confessions of how a lawyer helps pirates ‘clean’ their money….I was left asking my self thought provoking questions as to how many lawyers today would pass the Constitutio...

The Commission on Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) chairman Charles Nyachae The Constitution sets out the functions of the Constitution Implementation Commission (CIC) in Section 5 (6) of the Transitional and Consequential Provisions as follows; 1.       Monitor, facilitate and oversee the development of legislation and administrative procedures required to implement this constitution; 2.      Coordinate with the Attorney General and the Kenya Law Reform Commission in preparing, for tabling in Parliament, the legislation required to implement this constitution; 3.      Report regularly to the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee… and 4.      Work with each constitutional commission to ensure that the letter and the spirit of this Constitution is respected. Now that’s a full plate of duties considering the 5(five) year period set for their work, a super lean budget currently sta...

A weeping widow of wagalla “Grave Violations of Human Rights never die completely; that much is certain. The unanswered questions and the sadness they engender live on in minds of those who experienced them. They remain like a phantom pain in the body of those who come later, their children and their grand children. There is no endless variety of ways of dealing with the demons from the past. What happened is forgiven or punished, brushed under the carpet or carefully stored in the memory, suppressed or openly challenged”.             - All Things Pass , Except the Past by LUC HUYSE. Indeed, the Wagalla massacre, the Nyayo Era (error) torture cases, and most recently, the 2007/2008 post election violence all sad moments in our country’s history, and the politicians’ concerted efforts to down play the seriousness of these events and the likelihood of a reoccurrence, the reckless utterances and dirty political jostling played ...

Even as MPs animatedly bang tables at press conferences and heckle in public (some sadly in their mother tongues [ mzalendo where are you?!? ]) about the illegality of the speaker’s ruling and decision to reject debate on the controversial nominations of the Chief Justice, Attorney General, DPP and Director of Budget, claiming that a rejection of the names will lead to a constitutional crisis come 27 th February, it would be very important, at the earliest to clarify exactly what this constitutional crisis would mean – as opposed to what they want their not so ignorant constituents to believe it to mean. Fiction: The judiciary will be left in a mess-vacuum – headless as it were, if there is no Chief Justice after 27 th February. Fact: The office of the Chief Justice though an important one is mainly administrative and ceremonial (or so it has been made under Gicheru). The Court of Appeal’s Presiding Judge is perfectly capable of overseeing the transition in an acting capacity....

  Even as NACADA prepares to release what it terms as regulations setting out proper (quality) standards for the production, these should keep in mind the reason the drink has endeared itself to the lowly – cheap, instant and dangerously effective! Any regulations and legislation that is likely to infringe the Poor’s right to access recreation as well as their constitutional freedom to associate and ‘network’ will be deemed unconstitutional. Interesting sentiments have been elicited on the implementation of the new law. The moment any regulations sound elitist and seem to create business for high-end alcohol manufacturers at the expense of poor and low income manufacturers, then litigation becomes rife considering the rate at which Kenya is growing as a litigious country.   It’s a poor mans product, not a potential international export product, please keep than in mind NACADA!!!