Post by Onyango Oloo on Jan 12, 2016 12:47:03 GMT 3
Excerpt:
Mutunga, 69, has been nicknamed ‘the Robin Hood of the Kenyan judiciary’. The son of a tailor, he rose up the system through talent and sheer determination. Previously a left-wing academic, he stood up against the dictatorship of President Daniel arap Moi, leading to Mutunga’s dismissal from the university and a prison sentence in 1982. After the end of Kenya’s one-party state in 1991, Mutunga became president of the Law Society of Kenya and chair of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission. After the election violence of 2007/8, which claimed more than a thousand casualties, Kenyans demanded fundamental reforms. Mutunga was made Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court and was tasked with reorganising the judiciary. The heads of corrupt judges began to roll.
Nevertheless, Mutunga claims corruption in Kenya has never been worse than today.
“The influence of the cartels is overwhelming,” he says. “They are doing illegal business with politicians. If we do not fight the cartels, we become their slaves. But leaders who do take on the cartels must be prepared to be killed or exiled.”
Mutunga is averse to the pomp, wealth and self-regard that is the hallmark of many Kenyan politicians. His defence of gay rights and an ornamental stud in his earlobe meanwhile have caused some political turbulence. “We do not want a Chief Justice with a decorative button to communicate with unseen spirits,” quipped Deputy President William Ruto some years back.
Despite now being a member of the establishment, however, Mutunga doesn’t hesitate to criticise the government and parliament. “Yes, I am now at the top. I’m riding a tiger, hoping that the monster will not devour me,” he says. “But as long as I fight the cartels and they are protected, you cannot achieve anything. You are taking these people into a corrupt investigating system, through a corrupt anti-corruption system, and a corrupt judiciary.”
“If our constitution and the clause Chapter 6 about corruption were being implemented, I am sure 80% of [politicians] would not be suitable for political leadership,” he adds.
According to Mutunga, weak state structures in African countries create space for criminal networks to operate, especially when these groups operate along ethnic loyalties. Cartels collaborate with politicians and military leaders, gaining huge influence and sometimes overshadowing the government itself.
“Globally, according to the World Economic Forum, this illicit economy that includes counterfeit is worth $3.5 trillion,” says Mutunga. “In Kenya, the counterfeit economy is worth $1.2 billion annually according to the Kenya Association of Manufacturers. It has got involved in supporting politicians in a big way.”
The Chief Justice brings up the example of the $3.8 billion railway construction contract the government signed with a Chinese state enterprise in which the bid was limited to that single company.
“We should have divided it up with different companies so that our interests would be paramount. Now we deal only with the Chinese,” he says, before going on to explain why the bidding process might have kept so restricted.
“The deal we have is based on commission. Guys are saying: we just had expensive elections where we spent 10 billion Kenya Shillings ($100m). We have to get it from somewhere. Or we have to think about the election in 2017 and we need a war chest. So you have all that stealing. We have become a bandit economy. Africa after 50 years of independence, after looting of resources, has become stuck. Inequality is also stuck”.
Now read the full article:
africanarguments.org/2016/01/11/kenya-has-become-a-bandit-economy-says-chief-justice-willy-mutunga/