KCA Statement: High Court Tribunal a Good Start
Released: Thursday, October 16, 2003

The Kenyan Community Abroad is pleasantly surprised by the decision by the
Kenyan government to follow through with the setting up of tribunals to
investigate high ranking members of the judicial system on corruption charges.

The most malignant ailment that has crippled our country in the last three
decades has been endemic corruption that has spread through the very fabric of
our nation. Honest and hardworking Kenyans have been rendered ineffective and on
non sequitur status because of rampant corruption in every facet of social and
economic life. Foreign direct investors have avoided our country like the plague
because of uncertainty borne through corruption and nepotism.

When the NARC government took office almost 10 months ago, one of their key
promises was to face this evil head-on. Kenyans have been waiting with baited
breadth to see solid moves by the government on this front.

This is why today Kenya heaved a sigh of relief when Wednesday's special issue
of the Kenya Gazette announced the setting up of tribunals and effective
suspension of six members of the highest court in the land and 17 members of the
high court. This is a good and laudable move because if the malaise is to be
dealt with, it has to start with the guardians of law.

The move shows that the government is serious in its proclamations of righting
the Kenyan ship. It shows that even though the judges enjoy security of tenure,
it is not a license for them to do as they wish with the laws of Kenya.

This should serve as a stern reminder to the rest of the Appeal court judges and
the entire judicial system, that they enjoy these privileges in order to guard
the sanctity of the laws of Kenya and not to abuse them. Charges of sexual
harassment, direct corruption, abuse of office, want of integrity, unethical
conduct and judicial misbehavior, coming from the highest court in the land,
make a mockery of the entire system.

It is our sincere hope that the tribunals will work swiftly and make their
findings publicly known. We also anticipate this to be just the start of the
cleaning up process. In order to turn our country around, we will need to do
this throughout the entire government structure and there is no better place to
start than the judicial system.

It is time to clean our house.

Frank Mwaniki,
For the Kenyan Community Abroad