I Have Enough Experience, Smokin Wanjala Tells JSC

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

Henry Wanyama

8 June 2011

The former anti corruption deputy director yesterday said he would not have reapplied for a continued stay at KACC.

Smokin Wanjala denied that his resignation from KACC was attributed to non-performance. He was the deputy director in the prevention department.

In 2009, President Kibaki irregularly renewed the terms for KACC director Aaron Ringera and his two deputies Fatuma Sichale and Wanjala.

There was a public outcry that led to Parliament rejecting Kibaki’s reappointments. The President had renewed the terms of the three before they ended.

“I had made known to my confidantes that I was not considering to reapply for the job at the KACC. Public and Parliament rejection had indeed made it untenable for me to stay,” Wanjala said adding that it was important to preserve the commission’s status.

Wanjala spoke at the Judicial Service Commission interviews for the position of judge in the Supreme Court.

Attorney General Amos Wako asked him whether it was his performance that caused his resignation.

Wako: Would it be right to say that your decision was informed by your non performance?

Wanjala: It was not about my performance…the public outcry was mainly directed at the director. He told the commission that his many years of teaching and writing legal matters was enough experience to preside of major disputes as a supreme court judge.

The judiciary. he said. needs to be reconstructed to allow people understand what it stands for.

He suggested that rulings by judges undergo a self critique from judges as the only way to fulfill the people’s needs according to the rule of law.

“Judgment without legal ingredients means that it must have been arrived at through corruption. Judges must speak about their own judgments,” Wanjala said.

He said people must respect rulings in order to end impunity.

On constitutional matters between Parliament and the Judiciary he said, “Parliament will always have its temporary decision while the courts will deliver the final judgments after citizens’ move to court.”

The commission also interviewed lawyer Joseph Adera who cited his experience in commercial law as an important ingredient for the seven bench supreme court.

Commissioner Ahmed Abdullahi however doubted Adera’s solid academic background as a first class honours degree in Dar es Salaam and

Harvard universities were not reflected on his CV.

Abdullahi said: “Your CV is only 2 pages and four lines. I do not see the experience.”

Adera asked that he be given a chance to prove his ability to become a supreme courrt judge.

AllAfrica – All the Time