Search for CJ: Yano’s leap of faith in race for top judge

Alice Yano is the youngest of the candidates who have put their professional feet in the ringing for the office of Chief Justice.

If appointed, she would have scored the special distinction of not only being the first female ever but also the youngest person to hold that office under the 2010 Constitution. 

But this relative youth should not be a limitation. It comes with a wealth of useful experience.

Ms Yano has a bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Nairobi and a postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Kenya School of Law.

She was admitted as an advocate of the High Court in 1996. 

Ms Yano is currently working on a Master of Business Administration degree at Africa Nazarene University.

She worked briefly for Kenya Industrial Estates as legal adviser and thereafter went into private practice.

As the clamour for change gained momentum in Kenya, she was appointed as commissioner of the Constitution of Kenya Reform Commission (CKRC) in 2000. 

The CKRC was created by Act of Parliament as the technical unit to drive the ardour for reform. It would determine the views of Kenya on the need for reforming the Constitution. 

That she took up the appointment while fairly young and junior in the profession shows Ms Yano’s courage and mettle. 

This is because the commission was formed against the background of an administration that was sceptical about the need for constitutional rechanges.

The commission went round the country and gathered views from citizens, professionals, civil society. 

Ms Yano must have got an understanding of the needs and aspirations of Kenyans shared during these visits. 

She must have also understood the extent of unease the previous constitution excited from the citizenry and therefore what needed to change.

The CKRC came up with a draft constitution, which was then presented to citizens at the People’s Constitutional Assembly. 

Ms Yano served as a commissioner in this role until 2006. She then went back to private practice of law at the company she founded. This was followed by employment in Elgeyo Marakwet as county attorney from 2013 to 2014. 

After this, Ms Yano once again resumed private legal practice.

Taking her experience in the CKRC and interactions with people may possibly make her one of the most travelled Kenyans. 

She may be the only one among the candidates for CJ who is most attuned to the expectations of Kenyans as to what the Constitution is to address. 

This is even more indicative because the product of the commission in the draft constitution it came up with was generally acceptable and popular with Kenyans of all occupations at the Bomas Conference. 

Ms Yano therefore stands alone among the candidates as one who understands and has travelled in Kenya in the quest for an understanding of who the ordinary people really are and what their daily challenges entail. 

Added to that is the fact that the experience at the commission must have given her an awareness of the real lives that the ordinary Kenyan goes through and what that Kenyan expects of the constitutional structure, including the Judiciary.

A Judiciary with a person of the level of experience and understanding as its head will be the better in understanding the country and what the expectations in terms of justice and the role of the courts is to be.

Ms Yano’s current practise is in Kajiado county. 

This fact, coupled wither her experience as a county attorney in Elgeyo Marakwet – a region considered as marginalised – puts Ms Yano in a unique position of the candidate who represents interests and brings perspectives of the truly common person in Kenya. 

It would be a necessary expectation that the totality of these experiences make Ms Yano the most aligned to the aspirations and daily life of the ordinary Kenyan and even more as people who consume the services of the Judiciary.

As a former CKRC commissioner, Ms Yano would know whether the constitutional dispensation that obtains currently is what ordinary Kenyans had hoped for during the visits her team made throughout the country. 

She would, as a person with first-hand knowledge of these expectations, know whether there are shortcomings that need to be ameliorated. 

As Chief Justice, this knowledge may give her a base for a plan of action on the rights of the citizen and how the judiciary would play its role in ensuring the hopes of Kenyans in the Constitution are realised.

Ms Alice Yano is as a professional armed with attributes that would answer the desire to have the transformational throttle that comes with a person sold to the ideals of the Constitution of Kenya

She understands its essence and expected dividends for the citizen generally, having establish that with the CKRC.

Ms Yano also has the rare experience of working for a devolved government and developing an understanding of the 2010 Constitution in action through devolution in action, an important calling card for a Chief Justice in the transformational epoch in which the Judiciary stands.

Taking into account her history, Ms Yano as prospective Chief Justice has another unique trait of being the candidate who was worked principally outside Nairobi.

She has litigated on behalf of common citizens, where the experience of the courts and general public services for consumers and litigants is markedly different from that in Nairobi and other cities.

If the vision of the Judicial Service Commission is to send the message of inclusivity of gender and geography, combined with an appreciation of the reality of the circumstances of Kenya’s mythical ordinary Citizen, Wanjiku, and her dreams as expressed in the Constitution, then Alice Yano’s candidature for the Chief Justice needs a thorough look. 

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