Well well, what do we have here!!

If you are a fan of TV, then you have heard this line several times, "Well, well, what do we have here!!"  It usually means someone has been caught at the wrong time in wrong place, or he is red-handed, or he was trying to escape the villain and now he is cornered with no escape.  My reference is the red-handedness.  In my May blog I indicated all we needed is two more activist Judges in the Supreme Court and the Liberals have it in the bag, a Supreme Court of Judicial Activists.  Well well, what do we have here!

With the nomination of both Njoki Ndungu aka Susanna and Smokin (what) Wanjala, the Liberals have it.  Why do I make these wild accusations?  As previously indicated, Ms. Ndungu has a good head on her shoulders, which she has used in scholastic, political, and activist use to good effect.  She is a regular columnist in a few papers (this now has to stop, she is a Judge and a gag order surely follows with that)  She sponsored the Sexual Offences Act, whose provisions cause so much disquiet among men that before it was passed many provisions, most notably the one for castration for sexual offenders, was removed.  She was in the Urgent Action Forum held in Naivasha in June 2007 in which the strategy to decriminalise sexual relations was laid out, a forum our new Chief Justice was famously quoted as saying "This kind of rubbish (religion) makes him very mad!"  Here is the link, read it for yourself.  http://www.urgentactionfund-africa.or.ke/pdfs/Sex%20Matters.pdf She also organised ladies who work in pubs and bars as well as sexual workers to have a forum where they spoke about legalising prostitution and registering sex workers to offer them more protection.  This to me clearly demonstrates to me, that she is NOT a centralist as some commentators in the main stream media would have us believe, but she is indeed quite Left Handed, meaning Liberal.  What I can expect from her therefore is another one for Team Mutunga.

As for Dr. Smokin, he was Deputy Chair for one Judge (Rtd) Aaron Ringeera at the KACC, who whas adjudged of having done such a poor job that despite his very strong judicial career, and well documented sound jurisprudential reasoning, was not even shortlisted for the interviews.  As his immediate deputy, I therefore am still wondering, how Rigeera came out blackened and charred and somehow Smokin smells not of smoke but of lavender!!!  This seems to me, that this particular appointment was done as a huge favour to someone, because the same disqualification that applied to Ringeera should have applied to Wanjala and Sichale!  People to whom huge favours are owed usually collect when the stakes are high enough.  Since this show is being run entirely by "Reformers" I can only conclude that the one who will collect will be one of these.

Where does that leave us?  It means it does not matter how conservative or level headed Judges Ojwang', Ibrahim and Tunoi are, they can dissent until they are blue in the face, they can write 50pages or reasoning explaining their dissent, but in the Supreme Court they all sit and they all decide and where the scale falls is how it is decided.  In a sure 4 versus 3 (if at all) balance, I now await the circus to begin.  From later this year when the cases start flooding in,they will be the light that will shine so we are able to see the true colours out of the prism of this "New Dawn" in Judiciary.  As a law making court, any such decisions, however contrary to the rest of us are binding even on Parliament to change the law to line up with the Court's constitutional interpretation.  Even bad law is still law and until another Supreme Court sits on the same issue to reverse it, we shall all have to be duly obliged to the Honourable Justices.

Phew!

This has been too long.  But I had to get it off my chest.  It is a long road we have to travel.  Hope you have buckled in for the ride.  Keep praying, Keep believing, a better Kenya is so possible!