IBA summit snub bad for legal practice
The Law Society of Kenya should sensitise its members on the importance of this annual summit.
What you need to know:
- This is the largest convention of lawyers from every jurisdiction – akin to the UN General Assembly.
- Let the Law Society of Kenya consider bidding to host the International Bar Association conference.
My annual tourism ritual took me to Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the US and Mexico.
In Mexico City, I attended the September 15-20 International Bar Association (IBA) conference that brought together more than 5,000 lawyers from across the world.
This is the largest convention of lawyers from every jurisdiction – akin to the UN General Assembly, if the number of delegates is anything to go by.
Representation of the Kenyan Bar was appalling. We were hardly five. Even our neighbours to the West had a bigger delegation, led by the Uganda Law Society president.
Delegations from Nigeria are usually large, in their hundreds at times. The poor showing by the Kenyan Bar was not in isolation.
This was also the case in Washington DC in 2016 and Rome in 2018.
Legal education
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) should sensitise its members on the importance of this annual summit. It is the mother of all conferences in terms of legal education and networking.
The talking point at this year’s summit was democracy and the rule of law, with Mexico being the centre of discussions, the pace having been set on the opening day by the welcome address from Mexican Supreme Court of Justice president, Norma Piña Hernández, together with the former President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo.
The pair highlighted the draconian constitutional amendments recently passed by parliament, in which judges are to exit office in two years. Judges are to be directly elected by a popular vote. Judges seeking election will have a 60-day window to campaign.
That will leave judges without security of tenure and at the mercy, beck and call of the political class and the Executive. The independence of the Judiciary will be highly compromised yet the president, who enjoys “tyranny of numbers” in parliament , is not ready to listen to anyone despite countrywide protests.
The constitutional amendments will cripple the Mexican judiciary, politicise it and render it extinct.
Hosting rights
Food for thought for the Kenyan Bar: Let the LSK consider bidding to host the IBA conference, now that there is a strong feeling that it is time for Africa to do so for the first time.
Nairobi narrowly missed the opportunity in 1990 due to political upheaval in Kenya, even after winning the hosting rights.
The 2025 conference will take place in Toronto, Canada while Copenhagen, Denmark, will host the summit the following year.
Kenya and Africa can initiate a bid for the 2027 IBA conference. Within the East and Central African region, Kenya could be the only country with the capacity to host a conference of such magnitude.
South Africa and, perhaps, Egypt and Morocco in the north could also have the capacity.
Mr Sumba is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. [email protected]
