CJ ought to be bold on human rights and a towering legal mind
Friday May 07 2021
Justice Martha Koome when she appeared before the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) at the Supreme Court buildings on April 14, 2021 to be interviewed for the position of Chief Justice. The JSC picked her for the position of chief justice. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NMG
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First, congratulations to Lady Justice Martha Koome for being picked by the Judicial Service Commission to be the next Chief Justice of Kenya subject to confirmation by Parliament.
The appeals court judge has worked for many years as a judge and advocate. Importantly, she has been an indefatigable crusader for women’s and children’s rights. It was a bold and commendable move by the JSC to pick a woman to head this important arm of government.
In 2015 John Pombe Magufuli became Tanzania’s accidental President. Colourful and charismatic, Magufuli charmed the masses during his five years in office. He demanded results and pulled off successes that were elevated to the status of minor miracles. He channeled his inner Julius Nyerere to revive Tanzania’s distinctive internal self-reliance-based identity.
The state was back, and the state was Magufuli. He used his campaign against the
mabepari class to grandstand on a regular basis, and the coronavirus pandemic provided the former chemist with an opportunity to elevate his anti-imperialist credentials. His controversial stance won him approval across the region: several of my colleagues remarked that “Magufuli is the only African President to speak truth to the pandemic”.
want from you in return but an understanding of what it means to feel alive?
~ Forough Farrokhzad
I was told that I was born a healthy baby at Consolata Hospital in Nyeri. My father, who is of the Kuria people of southwestern Kenya, was working on a project in central Kenya as an agricultural engineer. I was named Boke after his mother. In Kuria tradition girls were not as celebrated as boys, but my father looked at me as keenly, with that same sense of indebtedness, as he would at his own mother.
We thank our parents for the gift of life. Our parents expect us to thank them. Each and every day you should demonstrate gratitude for this special gift; no matter your experiences, you owe it to the givers of life – for better and for worse.
THE STANDARD
KENYA
Chief Justice Kitili Mwendwa [left] being sworn in by President Kenyatta as AG Charles Njonjo looks on in July 1968 [Courtesy]
An idea whose time has come is unstoppable.
A few weeks before July 1968, when this picture was taken, nobody would have thought that Kitili Maluki Mwendwa, 39, would be the first African Chief Justice.
This became a reality after the acting Chief Justice Arthur Denis Farrel, rubbed President Jomo Kenyatta the wrong way. His crime was reducing the one-year jail term handed over to bearded Bildad Kaggia to six months. Kaggia, who was the MP for Kandara, had earned his ticket to hell for contradicting Kenyatta’s policies and joining forces with then Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. Once Farell was out of the way, Kitili took over as the Chief Justice after a solemn ceremony attended by Kenyatta himself and then Attorney General Charles Njonjo.