Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Daily Nation
Published on 2024-01-26 21:00:00
This month has been filled with dramatic intensity in our public affairs. It all started when the Law Society of Kenya positioned itself as a subpart of the Judiciary. Since then, its leadership has been attacking the Executive, discrediting protests against judicial impunity, and defending the Judiciary from demands for accountability.
The Law Society even mobilized advocates to hold demonstrations throughout the country, all in the name of defending judicial independence. However, things took a turn when the Supreme Court judges recused themselves from all cases where the parties were represented by a former president of the Law Society of Kenya, Ahmednasir Abdullahi.
The Chief Justice’s attempt to resolve the misunderstandings with the president further humiliated the Law Society. As a result, the society had to shift its focus from defending the Judiciary to protesting the Judiciary’s corruption and tyranny. This dramatic change of stance left the Society in a compromised position.
The Supreme Court also made a decision that implied that access to justice is contingent upon judicial whim and fancy. This decision disabused lawyers about the nature and purpose of their profession, stating that the right to appear before the courts is not a professional right but a privilege extended by judicial officers.
The Law Society, therefore, had to protest the fraternizing between the Chief Justice and the president and defend advocates’ right of audience before courts.
It is time for the Law Society to deliberate on its role as the nation’s professional society and champion of democracy. There is a need to rescue the society from the delusion that advocacy is a subsidiary function, and to liberate it from the mortifying oscillation as it attempts to align with the intemperate effusions of an addled judicial leadership.
The Supreme Court’s decision is a warning to all citizens and their advocates to pledge fealty to judges on the pain of arbitrary excommunication and denial of justice. For this reason, the Grand Mullah, a former president of the Law Society of Kenya, is an important test that the Supreme Court failed to pass.
This situation calls for a serious reevaluation of the roles and responsibilities of both the Law Society and the Judiciary in order to restore public confidence and ensure the fair dispensation of justice.
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