Veteran lawyer John Khaminwa has warned that Kenya will become a banana republic if the Executive continues to abuse the criminal justice system.
Khaminwa decried what he termed as a takeover of the criminal justice system by state agencies.
“If we lose the powers the courts have, Kenyans can easily and very shortly be classified as a banana republic. No wonder the President of Tanzania said those words about our country. The country has gone down,” he stated.
Khaminwa, who is one of the oldest practicing lawyers in the country, noted that the criminal justice system in Kenya has always been abused.
Banana republic conjures up a range of clichés and
caricatured images of US-Central American and Caribbean diplomatic relations in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Banana republics referred to countries led by dictators, oligarchs, and “strongmen” who ruled over indigenous and/or mixed-race peasants and managed economies dependent on agricultural exports, stereotypically coffee or bananas.
In his remarks before the court on Tuesday, Khaminwa added that the rule of law, which Kenyans thought was improving, is now in the Intensive Care Unit.
“We can only get out of this quagmire with boldness. Our judges must be bold, our magistrates must be bold and state clearly that the country will not be governed the way it is governed,” he urged.
He called on young Kenyans who have the power to redeem the rule of law in the country and the independence of the Judiciary.
“The Executive should keep on its lane, but currently, that is not what is being done.”
On Monday, President Samia Suluhu issued a stern warning against external interference in Tanzania's internal affairs by Kenyan activists.
"We have begun witnessing a stream of activists from within this region attempting to interfere with our activities. They have destroyed their countries, now they want to do the same with ours," Suluhu claimed.
