Nelson Havi comes across as an audacious man fashioning himself as being on a mission to confront the status quo.
Some of the odds he is up against seem daunting, but the man recently crowned the king of Bunyore is undeterred.
The Star sat down with him for an extensive interview at his Parklands’ law chambers, which also serves as his political nerve centre.
He was in his element: in fighting mood, unflinching, fearless to drop names, determined and a planning nerd.
The 45-year-old has practised law for close to 20 years and is the immediate former president of the Law Society of Kenya.
He is set to be replaced by Eric Theuri, the LSK Nairobi branch chairman, who edged out four competitors in the recently concluded March 10 polls by the society’s members.
You may think being the president of a professional lobby like LSK is no big deal. But Havi sees it differently.
He said when he declared his run for the seat in 2019, he was largely considered an outsider, underestimated by his peers and competitors, while powerful interests erected impediments in his way.
He soldiered on, he said, mounting an on-message campaign that earned him preponderant love among advocates, especially young ones.
“They underestimated me. Even in my wars in the society, my opponents underestimated me, but I humiliated them. Serves them right,” he said with a smirk.
There is a huge rot in the society and the fight was about us demanding an audit of its finances
LSK PRESIDENCY
What he regrets about his tenure at the helm of the society is the failure to develop the outfit’s property at South C into a modern tower and office.
He said his detractors succeeded in torpedoing his efforts to build the society a modern office.
“Just like David in the Bible [who could not build God’s temple], I could not build the tower. I had fought too many wars and my hands were stained with blood.”
During his leadership, the society’s council got bitterly divided, with nine of the 13 members standing against him all through.
The issue in contention was the need to have the society’s account edited, and it generated much heat that eventually grounded the operations of the secretariat.
The public face of the wrangles became the fight between Havi and the former CEO Mercy Wambua, whom he wanted out of office.
Multiple players aware of the undercurrents around the fights suggest that the decision to remove Wambua had been unanimously agreed on, but things changed fast as the situation became fluid, with nine of the council members siding with her.
Havi, however, remained adamant that the majority opposition notwithstanding, she had to vacate office.
The issues dragged on until Wambua left office in February upon expiry of her two three-year terms. She later got appointed as CEO of the Commission on Administrative Justice.
Havi eventually left his office in a low-key manner under the cloud of a High Court order on December 21 last year that sought to restore order in the midst of the bitter fights.
The court had ordered that he convenes a meeting of the divided council to attend to the affairs of the society within 21 days or he ceases to touch the lobby’s affairs.
He did not comply with the order, making him and the entire council be ejected from office. The caucus of branch chairs led by then chair of Mount Kenya branch Linda Gitonga took office as the interim council.
Standing against the BBI was not a joke. I put my life at risk to stand up against the dismemberment of the constitution when nobody else could. Against all odds, we did it
ACCOUNTABILITY AND BBI
Does the former president regret the chaos? Not at all.
Havi believes the division was inevitable because he was involved in ‘a righteous mission’ to clean up the mess in the outfit.
“There is a huge rot in the society and the fight was about us demanding an audit of its finances,” he said.
“A lot of people, including banks, are complicit in mismanaging the monies of the society. They captured those council members to stand in our way. But we fought a virtuous fight.”
In fact, Havi casts his achievements in glorious light, and his success in standing in the way of the BBI initiative tops the list.
Havi was the lead advocate for petitioners who lodged a case against the amendment initiative at the High Court, and his arguments swayed the court to declare the process illegal and unconstitutional.
Further, when the appeal against the judgment got filed at the Court of Appeal, he successfully led the charge against it. The fate of the document is now at the Supreme Court, where he is again leading the fight.
“Standing against the BBI was not a joke. I put my life at risk to stand up against the dismemberment of the constitution when nobody else could. Against all odds, we did it,” he said with fervent nostalgia.
Havi said he stepped forward after senior lawyer Gibson Kuria wrote to him, urging him that his leadership was in the right trajectory despite the wrangles, and prodded him to challenge the constitutional amendment initiative.
“I have a whole file dedicated to letters I have received from Gibson Kuria. Who are these people [opposing me]?”
ELECTIVE POLITICS
Havi has plunged himself into the world of elective politics, channelling his ambitions into the Westlands parliamentary race.
It is a pursuit he started while still perched at the helm of the society, a fact that generated concerns of being conflicted. But Havi says everyone has interests.
“I wrote in a paper when I sat Form 4 exams many decades back that I would one day be the President of this republic. My ambitions did not start today,” he said.
“So when opportunities arise, you find ways to use them in furtherance of the overall ambition.”
But he believes the outfit’s responsibilities were burdensome and that he spent much of his resources to get a lot accomplished for the society.
“I would go to many of the events attended by dignitaries like the Chief Justice, who is well facilitated, but not me. I attend most of those events out of town in my capacity as a member of the National Council for Administration of Justice,” he said.
He is in politics for a purpose, he said, adding that he ought to challenge the consensus fallacy that the country’s politics is a preserve for crooks, conmen and the vile.
“People erroneously believe that politics is murky and a dirty game. There are a few who can get into it to serve the people justly. I’m one of them,” he said.
And once elected, he said, he does not want the honorific title of ‘honourable’. He believes Kenyans have overglorified politicians and given them excess gravitas that they do not deserve, and that is why most of them have abused offices without consequences.
“Just call me by my name. I have interacted with some of these people you call ‘waheshimiwa’ and they are conmen just out to get money and riches,” he said.
“They do not see public office as an avenue to serve but to enrich themselves through whichever means possible.”
VOTER APATHY ‘DESPICABLE’
Now that he has been on the campaign trail, what lesson has he learnt?
“That the most needy [members of the society] are the most inconsiderate,” he said, explaining that the poorest and neediest members of the public have a careless and complacent attitude towards taking serious steps to change their situation.
“You find some people who are clearly struggling or a young man who is a university graduate but jobless asking for this help or that, but when you ask them whether they registered to vote, they say no. They are indifferent about taking a vote and voting. So despicable,” Havi said.
Also, does he give handouts to people on the trail?
“Giving handouts is inevitable,” he said.
When out and about, he says he has to buy people food, pay health bills for this or that person and also help with school fees for those deserving.
“Our people are struggling. I saw some people eat ugali and Irish potatoes for lunch, just imagine that! Ugali and Irish potatoes! So helping is inevitable. If you want to call that handout, then so be it,” he said.
“I can decide to continue enjoying my life and earn Sh10 million a month as I can, but to what end? You must help people whenever you see the need.”
But for rowdy men who waylay politicians to demand money, Havi won’t give you anything.
“In fact, I will beat them up myself. I can’t give them any money,” he said.
Asked how he expects to recoup all the monies he uses in campaigns and in helping people, Havi said he does not need to recover the money.
Edited by T Jalio
