A group of lawyers have teamed up to push for the removal from office of Chief Justice Martha Koome and her six colleagues on the Supreme Court Bench.

The lawyers­—some of them unquestionably eminent and very well known to me in person—have listed a number of grievances they have against the institution that harbours the dispensers of justice, ranging from incompetence and partiality to maladministration and arrogance.

Some of them have cited their mere losing of cases in the corridors of justice as their basis for the beef they have against the head of the Judiciary, the first woman in the country to occupy that coveted seat.

I do not agree with the learned men. But let me pronounce it on the onset that the status of our Judiciary in terms of service delivery is wanting. Seriously so. Case backlogs, corruption and ineptitude within the Judiciary are there for all to witness. They have been there for too long. These are vices that the CJ and every judge of the High and Appellate Courts promised to combat during their interviews by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) which, coincidentally is chaired by the CJ.

It is unfortunate that Lady Justice Koome has not confronted the seamy aspects of the Judiciary to the expectations of consumers of justice. While it cannot be denied the Judiciary starves of financial backing, it is also true that Koome and her team have been too slow in addressing the challenges afflicting the Judiciary. That, however, does not give us a licence to bastardise the country’s top judge and the institution she heads.

The hurdles the Judiciary is grappling with are not new. They have been with us since the advent of multi-party politics in Kenya. The manner of combating them has differed from one CJ to the other.

Koome is the third holder of that office since the promulgation of the Constitution (2010). Her predecessors—Dr Willy Mutunga and David Maraga—had different leadership styles that attracted them to separate stakeholders to the level that while the former was darling of the civil society top-notch decision-makers in Western capitals, the latter was a favourite of the masses, the hoi polloi whom he so much openly spoke for and defended quite often.

On the other hand, Koome is largely perceived as—wrongly or otherwise—a gatekeeper, if not protector and bedfellow of the political elite. However, the jury is still out there insofar as Koome’s tenure at the apex court is concerned.

That said, it is important to state that just like Mutunga and Maraga had challenges, both internal and external, during their time in office, Koome has her hurdles to deal with too. However, whereas critics of Koome’s predecessors were mainly drawn from the political class and tribal bigots, it is curious that those hounding her are from her own profession and former comrades-in-arms during their heyday in civil society and quest for democracy and human rights.

I choose to stand with Lady Justice Koome in the prevailing circumstances. We should be candid with ourselves to admit that while there are endemic woes within our criminal justice system, these failings cannot be placed entirely at the doorstep of the current Chief Justice. Taking over from where her predecessor left, Koome has been able to significantly digitise the Judiciary and establish the Mobile Small Claims courts in a number of far-flung counties where consumers of justice walk shorter distances to access courts. These are achievements which we should applaud her for. Though that is not enough. She still needs to do more.

Be that as it may, the Judiciary and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) remain the only institutions that the public still has confidence in today. The media and the religious organisations used to be in these brackets but confidence in them has since fizzled out tremendously.

There is no doubt that Kenya faces a bumpy road between now and the 2027 General-Election. The one thing that this country requires within that period and beyond is peace. That means that each one of us must do our best to ensure that we foster and protect peace in our country.

I am afraid however, that such a wish and noble objective cannot be achieved through lack of respect and hurling insults at those who preside over the most crucial of our institutions me especially the Executive, Judiciary and Legislature. Koome was interviewed and found suitable to hold the office she occupies today. We must accord her the requisite respect even if we do not agree with her decision or not, or whether do not like her tribe or gender, whatever the case could be.

We have acquired very bad manners in Kenya in which we drag public servants out of office and throw them to the streets through all sorts of indignities simply because we disagree with their decisions at a personal level.

That is what we did to Isaak Hassan, the then chairman of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and now the chairperson of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) after the 2013 General-Election. We hounded him out of office but never solved the problems at IEBC. We still have an IEBC that few people trust.

I get a feeling that those who are crusading for the immediate exit of Koome from the apex of the Judiciary want to take us on that route. God forbid, The year 2027 is very crucial as we are going to have a tricky election. Since the advent of multi-partyism, an election in which a sitting President is seeking re-election has been very dicey for Kenya, The 2007 election and the 2017 are cases in point. Their ramifications remain with us to date.

The next elections requires a very stable Judiciary and other organs of State, We should not be ones to start weakening the Judiciary today and then when a party loses in the polls, they cry foul and then refuse to seek legal redress on grounds that they have no confidence in the court.

That is exactly what happened in 2007. That is not a path anyone in Kenya should wish to take or wish for it -re-visitation. We have to be more reasonable than that.

On two previous occasion, I have argued for the need for the re-establishment of a permanent Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board (JMVB) such as the one appointed soon after the late President Mwai Kibaki came to power and which was chaired by former Solicitor-General, Sharad Rao. I still hold onto that view. Strongly so.

At its sittings, the Board publicly heard all manner of complaints from aggrieved consumer of justice against specific members of the Bench.

That process bore results. Quite a number heads rolled. Justifiably so. There was evidence to prove the claims against them. Others survived. Because there was no evidence against them.

That is the route I recommend. However, since it does not exist at the moment, it only fare that we follow the laid down procedure. All persons with complaints against members of the Bench should channel them through the JSC. Though this remains contentious given that JSC takes time to respond to these concerns or even make them public. This is one area where Koome also needs to pull up her socks.

The Chief Justice also needs to move around the country and listen to the issues raised by Kenyans where they are served in various parts of the country. Locking herself in Nairobi only attracts the kind of criticism spewed in her direction.

The Judiciary is one of the institutions that has been granted independence by the Constitution. We must allow it to operate so. That should not, however, gag us from pointing out its acts of omission and commission.

But must do so reasonably and considerably. Hurling epithets at our judicial officers each coming morning will not in any way help the institution to maintain its independence. Let us give the chief Justice and her entire bench peace.

Let us critique, but not bastardise them

The author is a Revise Editor at the People Daily newspaper. Email:kwayeram@yahoo.co.uk_