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{
    "id": 1122175,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1122175/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 308,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "However, we reminded him that even our colonial master United Kingdom (UK) and I had just come from UK that time. I remember I was in the UK in October of 2008. I told him even our colonial masters were moving away from that opaque system where the Queen had the last say. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if you look at the chapter on judiciary, it was meant to limit the involvement of the executive on the appointment of judges. That is why the representative of the JSC has two members representing the LSK, two members representing the public on the representation from the judiciary. Again, I remember Sen. Wako objecting saying our proposal was going to introduce politics in judiciary. We insisted that if it is the Supreme Court, they should elect their representatives. If it is the Court of Appeal they should elect their representatives. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if it is the High Court, they should elect their representatives. If it is the magistrate’s court they should elect their representatives. This is so that there is a form of independence on that body called JSC. This is so that when they are picking candidates, it is not based on any political affiliation or patronage but purely on professional qualifications. In fact, if you read the Bomas Draft, Parliament was supposed to vet after the JSC had recommended. However, we fought very hard as the LSK to remove Parliament because we did not want politics to be introduced on the Judiciary. We wanted this to be very professional. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, therefore, as I speak this afternoon, I want to remind the country where we came from. As we were discussing this debate, we had on the table the Koffi Annan Report and the discussions that emanated from Serena. You were told that Kenyans butchered each other after the 2007 disputed elections because they did not have trust in the judiciary. We had on the table the Kriegler Report. It made a very strong recommendation that going forward, the process of picking judges should be independent and insulated from the executive. It is on record and all those reports are there. Therefore, the chapter on judiciary having listened to the people of Kenya, Koffi Annan and Kriegler Report recommended that the executive should not play a role on the appointment of judges. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we had on the table the provisions of Section 174 of the South African Constitution. It has a provision to the effect that when the JSC carries out interviews and proposes names to the President, they should give three names for each position. However, again, because of our history and where we had come from, we rejected that proposal. We said only one name for each declared vacant position should be forwarded to the President. Kenyans knew that the idea of politicisation of the judiciary is what had made Kenyans lose confidence in that institution. We had another sub clause of the South African Constitution, which says that before you appoint the Chief Justice and the Deputy Chief Justice in South Africa you must consult other political parties in Parliament. However, we said in Kenya because of our history and where we were coming from, we do not want politics to play any role. The only compromise that we came up"
}