Betty Sungura-Nyabuto
14 May 2011
Nairobi — The last six months in Kenya have seen key constitutional vacancies under the new dawn being advertised.
Transparent short listing has always followed and thereafter subsequent recruitment to these respective offices.
I wish to mention at the outset that the recently conducted interviews by the Judicial service Commission treated Kenyans to a long awaited, open and transparent recruitment of the Chief Justice and the Deputy Chief Justice.
I commend the JSC for its dedication and commitment throughout the process. Again, the announcement of the nominees was commendable and on schedule! Here, the pace has been set correctly.
I believe in the wise words that “we are judged by what we finish, not what we start”. The nominations of Dr Willy Mutunga and Ms Nancy Baraza should send positive signals to Kenyans.
I see three salient considerations touching on these nominations; firstly that the judiciary needs reform minded personas on the steering wheel noting that Kenya is moving in the reform path, secondly its apparent that the two nominees have not served in the Kenyan judiciary before hence new impartial blood has been injected in its leadership.
Transparent process
I would have been happier if a transparent process a similar to the one used by JSC had applied to the selection of the next Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as well.
But in Dorcas Oduor, Patrick Kiage, and Keriako Tobiko, the interviewing committee of Public Service Commission officials and other professionals has still nominated fairly strong candidates to the position . I hope the appointing authority will pick only the best.
Clearly, our next DPP should not be a political stooge and neither will she or he be expected to be at the beck and call of the Executive.
He or she should be an individual with strong professional character and integrity, well-versed with the law, articulate and conversant with the corresponding prosecutorial expectations that this office bestows upon them.
This man or woman should resonate with the clear demands of public interest and leadership and above all the law.
Kenyans expect an independent prosecuting service to prosecute alleged offences against our laws, providing an effective national criminal prosecution service to the Kenyan community, respecting our laws and maintaining public confidence in the justice system.
The DPP’s purpose is to provide an ethical, high quality and independent prosecution service for Kenya and to deprive offenders of the proceeds and benefits of criminal activity.
We expect to see the prosecution of offences such as those relating to the importation of drugs, frauds on tax fraud and social security, smuggling and trafficking of persons (including sexual servitude and sexual slavery), terrorism, and a whole wide range of regulatory offences.
We expect to see a strengthened investigations department with qualified personnel on criminal and more specific forensic investigations, lack of bureaucracy in prosecutions and a fully-fledged criminal research department amongst other changes.
It is public knowledge that many criminals are enjoying undeserved freedom courtesy of shoddy investigations. This should hopefully be a thing of the past.
An individual whose past is stained with mediocre and below par understanding of the law should not be allowed to serve in this office.
Demonstrated ability to be a reform-minded individual with “both feet” honestly on the reform path will be huge plus.
We should not guinea-pig this position. Justice cannot be traded at all. Again cronyism should not rear its ugly head.
It should be remembered that Kenyans shall be the appraisers of the DPP’s performance and a “recall clause shall be invoked” should this individual perpetuate incompetence or lack the punch!
Ms Sungura-Nyabuto is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
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