Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 588973,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/588973/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 209,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Anyango",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 130,
        "legal_name": "Dalmas Anyango Otieno",
        "slug": "dalmas-otieno"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I know what Hon. Millie Odhiambo and Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi wanted me to speak about. The Bill is good but there is no provision that will address transformation, attitude change and performance in the High Court. As it is now, it provides for business as usual in the High Court and the only recourse you have is to appeal. You have to go to the Court of Appeal and then the Supreme Court. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, as you know, those are very expensive processes. For your appeal to make sense, you even need a good lawyer. As a student of law, you are aware from your class that we have good, average and poor students. Some of those whom you knew were actually not very good students still passed the law course and are now judges. What am I trying to say? We actually need an independent performance review committee as one of the organs for managing the High Court. This is the very thing we have done with the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA). This Committee should be within the High Court because they have to look after themselves but it has to be independent and have representation from the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and be backed by a secretariat, which will be composed of legally qualified officers in intelligence; that will tell whether the performance of a particular judicial officer is reasonable and has not been subjected to excess influence and corruption, that is the power of money. We say that all of us would be corrupt if we were sure we cannot be caught. So, there must be a mechanism, a performance review committee backed by legally qualified intelligence officers that would report to the Chief Justice that in a case like this we have every reason to believe, and we have been able to lay our hands on intelligence that shows us that, that judge was not fair. That judge was lazy or is not up to the standard we require. We have enough evidence now following the vetting mechanism. I know a number of very good lawyers who cannot even dare apply to be judges for fear of that vetting. You know very well that even here in the House we have passed some laws that were voided by the High Court yet we are very many. We are an Assembly of some of the most able Kenyans that you can put together, and all with the mandate of the electorate to boot. If that can happen here and the Judiciary is really the home of the rule of law that is central to the performance of our Constitution for the benefit of all Kenyans, what is this organisation and administration of the High Court providing to make sure that judges will be performing up to the standard? We are not going to wait for another 10 years and then we say The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}