I’ll standardise bond and bail terms – Nyaribo

Lawyer Ishmael Nyaribo has vowed to push for standardisation of bond and bail terms for citizens if elected as member of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

“Look at the disparity in bond and bail terms in our courts and police stations. We are all citizens of this country and deserve to be treated equally because that is what the constitution stipulates. I will push for this equality if I am elected as a commissioner,” says Nyaribo. He has practiced as a lawyer for more than 20 years. He believes the experience he has gathered is enough to spur his candidature to victory in the hotly-contested election.

He believes his experience during his period of practice is critical for his candidature. Before he ventured into active practice of law, he worked in the corporate sector.

“Before I came into private practice, I worked in the corporate sector. I have been a legal affairs manager and I have also run private businesses for family and myself,” explains Nyaribo.

An expert in public policy and administrative law, Nyaribo sits in the Bar Bench Committee that ensures efficient delivery of service by the Judiciary with the aim of eradicating corruption.

He is also the chairman of the finance and budget committee of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK). According to him, the kind of budgeting and control that has been witnessed at LSK for the last two years is a testament of his leadership and management.

He intends to advocate for improved accountability of court systems and Judicial officers. He says he will show the Judiciary simple techniques of crushing corruption. “It is a simple matter.

It is possible for instance to see if a judgment has been delayed for several years because of unknown reasons. We will also through training point out what are the pointers to laziness or external influences on court decisions.”

The veteran lawyer believes accountability for Judicial services is about sticking to the processes put in place.

“I will propose to fellow JSC members that every single judicial officer be subjected to a digital way of capturing their output so that the Chief Justice and JSC can point out who is working and who is not. The digital audit system will help in ending backlog of cases in the Judiciary. There should be reviews about the work of judicial officers. Court users should be able to report on the ethical conduct of judicial officers.”

On the independence of Judiciary, he believes the smooth working together of the three arms of government has nothing to do with meetings between the heads of these institutions.

He notes the independence of the Judiciary goes deep into the kind of people at the Judiciary, their legal theory, their philosophical theory, jurisprudence they build through who they are, through learning and even through their beliefs.

“The biggest concern should be the question of if our judicial officers are to be fair and exercise equity in their decisions. There are many tribunals housed in government institutions. Does it now mean the Judiciary is not independent because of that?” asks Nyaribo.

Nyaribo has also thrown a regional balance card in the race.

He argues the contest is about him and lawyer Omwanza Ombati. “If you look at the outgoing commissioner Macharia Njeru and current LSK President Eric Theuri, they come from the same region, yet the Constitutional demands that there should be regional balance in the composition of state agencies for diverseness.

The female representative of LSK is Jacqueline Ingutiah who comes from the same place as Prof Michael Wabwile. They need to leave me to square it out with Ombati.”

He urges LSK fraternity not to be swayed by money in this contest because he believes the State could have infiltrated this election by sponsoring certain candidates to get friendly commissioners.

According to him, they should think about the prosperity of the country because this election is about the nation and the direction it will take. “Which candidate has connection and interest with the State? that’s the candidate we should avoid in this election,” warns Nyaribo.

He asserts that the judicial system seems to be failing. He says there should be a way of measuring how people feel when they use courts. He explains that in the Judiciary, one is likely to find two competing judgements in the same Bench. There is an urgent need to standardise the system to bring this problem to an end to increase accountability.

He promises to ask JSC members and Chief Justice to form a committee to look into judgements that differ so that they bring them up for final judicial opinion at the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court.

“We need to come up with a standardised method of ensuring that judges do not migrate from what Kenyans understand to be justice. I will ensure CJ and commissioners form committees to ensure that judicial officers are accountable to their action,” says Nyaribo.

He also promises to push for the improvement of welfare of Judiciary staff but says that service is not sometimes about money but accountability.

He mentions putting up digitised systems to reduce corruption. Just like Prof Michael Wabwile, who is also seeking the post, Nyaribo promises not to actively participate in service should he get elected and also promises to just serve for one term.