Kudos To Justice Lenaola for Continuing To Impress With His Sound, Solid Legal Decisions

In Chief Justice Mutunga and Supreme Court Tainted Forever published in the Star the other day, I noted the following:

It’s doubtful the Supreme Court can easily erase or reverse what it did in these petitions and, in the irony of ironies, Kenyans must now look to the lower courts as the only place they can expect justice.

To our luck, there are competent, rock solid judges and justices in those courts unafraid of rendering the right decision not for their own sake or others but for the sake of justice and rule of law.

That’s the only saving grace in all of this and what a shame when we had come so far in elevating our Supreme Court to such high levels of expectation and nobility only to have that crushed into pieces in one blow

One of the justices I had in mind, is the Hon. Mr. Justice Isaac Lenaola, a distinguished judge of the High Court who has time and again rendered decisions and provided leadership in the court on constitutional matters making many of us wondering why he is not our Chief Justice.

Justice Lenaola has once again rendered another one of those decisions in a landmark case ordering secondary school students who subscribe to the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church to be exempt from weekend classes that contravene their faithfaith and beliefs over their Sabbath.

As a born, raised and adherent of the SDA faith, I applaud and thank Justice Lenaola and the court in behalf of all believers, not just the Adventists for this landmark decision and trust the justice will render the right decision as well when the underlying petition is heard and disposed of.

It’s decisions like this that give us all hope the wheels of justice may be slow in turning at times or altogether off the axles leaving us stranded and scratching our heads as to what happened with the wheels but in the end justice will and does prevail with justices at the bench such as this great High Court judge of ours.

Can we say the same thing about our Supreme Court?

Let me not get started.

 

CJ Mutunga and the Supreme Court Tainted Forever

In CJ Mutunga and Supreme Court Tainted Forever published in the Star yesterday, I make the case why the Supreme Court of Kenya and its Chief Justice will be tainted forever by the intellectually shallow and embarrassing decision they made in dismissing Raila and AfriCog’s petitions.

I compare the court’s decision to the worst decision ever made in the United State’s history known as the Dread Scott case of 1857 rendered 156 years ago but still remains the worst in that court’s history and is often cited, to this day in both judicial and non-judicial circles as an example and reminder of how institutions that are supposed to be as noble, jurisprudential, fair and impartial as a country’s highest court can and do render decisions that leave people flabbergasted as to the crudeness of the decision.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in the Raila and AfriCog petitions will be equally remembered and cited as such long beyond 156 years from now.

 

Curbing Defamation and Hate Speech In Kenya

In Curbing Defamation and Hate Speech In Kenya published in the Star today, I share my views and thoughts on these dual vices that afflicts many in these forums and on the ground.

In sum, the point I am making is while we must have the right to enjoy the freedom of expression enshrined in our constitution we fought for many decades to realize, that freedom must also be checked with punitive measures to prevent or minimize the ability of those who would use the freedoms to spew hate or engage in hate or malice driven evil deeds such as defamation.

 

2nd Coalition Government Report Card

In 2nd Coalition Government Report Card published in the Star today, I note that the Jubilee government is actually another coalition government much like we had with between Kibaki and Raila except this time we don’t have a national law attempting to govern it and neither was it formed out of necessity to prevent the country from plunging into a civil war.

I then proceed to offer my assessment of how the coalition is doing thus far and what’s to be expected given how they are doing.