A day in the life

What’s the lesson, Tom?

2006-09-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

The trial of the notorious Lord Delamere’s notorious kin has begun. I’m not going to express outrage at the willy nilly killing of natives.

I was just wondering what Tom thinks about the whole affair. Last year the State (that nebulous, benevolent, unprejudiced entity) decided not to pursue murder or even manslaughter charges against him. After his release from prison custody he gave an interview to one of the dailies. I believe it was the Daily Nation. He said that he had learnt his lesson.

What was that lesson? That Kamiti Maximum Security Prison is a better deal than Naivasha?

Incidentally how lucky he was last year that the State decided after only a few days that they didn’t have sufficient evidence against him to sustain charges. How many people languish in remand before the State decides that they have no evidence? I can name at least one: a client of mine who was in remand for four years before the State decided “Nah, don’t think we’ve got enough to send him to the gallows. Let’s let him go.” Never mind that his business has collapsed, his reputation in his community is in ruins and he is severely traumatized. And by the way, four years is nothing. Some have been there for a decade.

The facets of justice

2006-09-25T06:53:00.000-07:00

When I was a law student or perhaps even when I first began my career, I used to think that Justice was that lady with the blindfold over her eyes and the scales in her hand. Now I know that in every particular law suit, any or all of the following definitions of justice are brought to bear:

Justice (with a capital ‘J’)- a concept known mostly in the realm of the Divine, but in rare instances descends onto this plane.
justice according to law – this is what our law professors told us our legal system endevours to uphold and what we swore to uphold when we were admitted to the bar.
justice according to the side of the bed – the side being, of course, the one that His or Her Honour woke up on this morning.
justice according to the pocket size- need I elaborate?

Add onto any or all of these, some or all of His or Her Honour’s personal baggage and there you have the outcome of your case!

Disenfranchising the youth

2006-09-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

It's said that people below the age of 31 form 81% of Kenya's population. With voter registration being carried out for short bursts of time, what happens to the ones who don't have ID cards during those windows when they have the opportunity to register? Thousands must be turning 18 every day. What happens to them? A huge number of the population stand to be disenfranchised during next year's polls. How are we going to have change in Kenya if young people don't bring about the change by participating in governance?

Someone (does that mean me?) ought to file a constitutional reference to have the High Court rule whether the current voter registration exercise isn't unconstitutional, and ask for a declaration that registration should be an ongoing, year-round activity.

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Today in court I noticed a gorgeous young woman in the front row of the public gallery. After the case was over she came up to me and told me that she's my client's girlfriend. Now I know that she must be new in his life and yet my client has been behind bars for about five years. How and when did they get the opportunity to get into a relationship? Well I guess life goes on whatever side of the bars one is.

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Last week a client's polygamous estranged husband passed away and my client wanted me to file for an injunction against the second wife and children burying him. Apparently she wanted to bury him herself. She wanted to have nothing to do with him in life, but in death, suddenly she claims ownership of his body and the right to bury him. This is not the first time I've received this request but this time I did not want to get involved in another messy quagmire of anger, sorrow, greed and hypertension. I declined.

I know that traditionally burial rites and inheritance rights are closely linked and that was probably the reason for her wish, but the law does not recognize this link. Let the mzee go in peace without fighting over his body.

Pre Monday Blues

2006-09-02T05:36:00.000-07:00

In between arguing certificates of urgency and drawing up bills of costs, am I going to have time to blog? Anyway, TGIS (thank God it’s Saturday – Fridays I’m too exhausted to be thankful to God).

Yesterday I was in Makadara law courts waiting for my case to be heard but we did not proceed. Anyway, while waiting I listened in on some of the other cases. The magistrate was handing out stiff sentences, left, right and centre. I mean, the woman was on a roll! Not that I blame her. One guy was sentenced to seven years for indecent assault. Apparently he and a colleague of his had accosted a girl on her way to the kiosk and tried to rape her. Because there was no penetration, although he’d been charged with rape the magistrate acquitted him of this. He must have had an alternative charge of indecent assault because that’s what he was convicted for. It seems when he was apprehended he was subjected to mob justice. In mitigation one of the things his lawyer said was that he’d almost lost his ‘manhood’ (I hate that term because that is not what manhood is all about) as a result of the thorough thrashing he received from the mob.

Oh no! Monday I have a case in Kibera!! I usually don’t fix cases for Mondays or Fridays, for obvious reasons, but last time this particular matter was in court, I’d forgotten my diary. So when the magistrate suggested the 4^th of September I accepted right away, not knowing it was a Monday. The problem is not really the case. The problem is that I don't want to wake up particularly early, I have not re-read the file, I don't have my authorities, and Monday is generally just a day that needs to be eradicated from the calendar. That means I dread the case the whole weekend. I think I need to go out and get a drink right away!