From left: LSK president Eric Theuri, Prof Michael Wabwile, Founding Dean, Faculty of Law, Egerton University, Lawyers Omwanza Ombati and Ishmael Nyaribo.
The upcoming elections for the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) male representative in the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has attracted four candidates including, a lecturer and his two former students.
The candidates include LSK’s current president Eric Theuri, Mr Omwanza Ombati, Prof Michael Nyongesa Wabwile and Mr Ishmael Nyaribo.
They are all seeking to replace Mr Macharia Njeru, whose six-year term ends in May.
Prof Wabwile, the founding dean of the faculty of law at Egerton University, taught Mr Theuri and Ombati during their undergraduate studies at Moi University.
Prof Michael Wabwile, Founding Dean, Faculty of Law, Egerton University. PHOTO | COURTESY
“Those two, Theuri and Omwanza, were my students. Very bright ones at that. Even if you were to think about it logically, the teacher is always better than the student. For this round, the teacher should come first. I am best equipped for the job,” Prof Wabwile told the Nation.
The law don has been in the legal fraternity for 27 years and has served as a quality auditor for the Inter-University Council for East Africa and the Commission for University Education. He is also the convener of the finance and general purposes committee at the Kenya School of Law board.
“I run a law firm, I am a regular court user, a consultant in matters law. None of my competitors has reached 25 years of experience and I am saying that everyone can rely on my track record,” he said.
Lawyer Omwanza Ombati. PHOTO FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Prof Wabwile says he is determined to deliver seven policy innovations that will bring changes in the Judiciary, including promoting diversity at the JSC where 55 per cent of those working for the commission should be from the Judiciary and the remaining shared among private and academic legal practitioners. He also vows to curate the training and human resource development policy to enhance the development of judicial officers.
Others are introducing a work-load policy, conducting a performance management policy review, reviewing staff welfare and influencing policies to ensure more pay for advocates.
“I will review the Advocates Remuneration order and update it within 90 days,” he said.
New language
Further, he plans to introduce, within the first 60 days, a procedure to formulate and adopt a Judiciary anti-corruption policy that will be “a new language to speak against corrupt behaviour and a strategy for culture change”.
The policy, he said, will help the Judiciary to deal with claims of corruption against its members.
“I also promise that I will serve for only one term and during my term at the commission, I will close down my law firm and focus solely on serving the Judiciary,” said Prof Wabwile.
For Mr Theuri, the focus of his time at the JSC if he gets the lawyers’ nod will be to help reform the commission to become responsive to the needs of advocates and ensure quick turnaround of cases to deal with the backlog.
He will also push to make it easier to hold judges accountable by going after those suspected of corruption, introducing lifestyle audits for judges and peer review.
“The judges know each other and we can streamline peer review mechanisms to so that those who suspect their colleagues can come forward for a thorough audit to be done and hold to account those in office to irregularly enrich themselves through bribes,” he said.
He said he will also be keen on ensuring judges commit to not deliver decisions and judgments on notice. Mr Theuri said as lawyers, they all agree to a no-adjournment policy so judges must also be forced to issue judgments within a specific time.
LSK president Eric Theuri. PHOTO | COURTESY | TWITTER
“We must stop this habit of judges concluding a matter and then taking ages to deliver a decision under the guise of giving it on notice.
As advocates, we are agreeing on a no-adjournment policy and judges must also be held to the same or even higher standards to ensure quick turnaround of cases if we are serious about fighting corruption in our courts and dealing a blow to case backlogs,” the Mr Theuri said.
Ignore orders
The LSK boss is also firm on his resolution to have President William Ruto cease his attacks on the Judiciary and the judges, adding they will sue him should the trend persist.
He said they have put together a team of lawyers to study the President’s speeches in which he vowed to ignore orders “undermining” State projects to see if they amount to violation of the constitution.
“We have put together a strong team of lawyers to carefully review all the utterances of the President on this subject and to determine whether they rise to the level of gross violation of the constitution to mount a case against him at the High Court,” he said.
Mr Theuri said gross violation of the Constitution is an offence that can lead to impeachment of any elected leader.
Mr Ombati has a three-point agenda, including accountability and visibility as he seeks to champion for more opportunities for advocates in the Judiciary, and dealing with problems that hinder lawyers and judges from practising.
Mr Ombati said it was unfortunate for President Ruto to consistently attack the Judiciary.
“The Judiciary is an arm of government established by the constitution and for him to attack the Judiciary he is eroding the confidence of Kenyans,” he said, adding that it will see Kenyans disrespect the court and encourage people to seek other negative alternatives when dealing with issues.
“They will use other ways to solve issues and this may lead to murders and mob injustice,” he said.
He told President Ruto to use better channels to handle matters, including filing complaints with JSC over the allegations he has.
“If he does not do that then we shall only take him as a politician and conclude that he is busy politicking,” Mr Ombati said. The advocate admitted that there is corruption in the Judiciary but there are better ways of dealing with those involved.
Mr Ombati als promised to deal with the issue of fake advocates by ensuring that those who appear in court are registered by LSK.
“The judges as well should assist us by ensuring that those lawyers that appear have a working current number and a card that shows they are practising,” he said.
Mr Nyaribo, who handed in his nomination papers last week, said that he will ensure the Judiciary delivers justice to all Kenyans.
He stated that he will ensure that bail issued in court is uniform for similar cases.
“What I want to assure the people is that if I am elected to the position, then I will ensure that the Judiciary works,” he said.
The lawyer further indicated that he will address the issue of cases backlog.
He joined his competitors in telling President Ruto and his allies to cease attacking the courts.
“We have seen countries go down because the Executive does not want to respect the Judiciary. If there are issues with the courts, then we have better ways of dealing with the matter,” he said.
Admitting that some judicial officers have questionable characters, he nevertheless said that attacking them in public was unacceptable.
Mr Nyaribo is the current chairman of the finance and budget committee at the LSK.
