Once upon a time, a traveller hired a donkey to carry him to a distant part of the country. The owner of the donkey went with the traveller, walking beside him to drive the donkey and point out the way.
So intense did the heat become that the traveller, at last, decided to stop for a rest, and as there was no other shade to be found, the traveller sat down in the shadow of the donkey.
Wishing also to rest in the shade cast by the donkey, he began to quarrel with the traveller, saying he had hired the donkey and not the shadow it cast. The two soon came to blows, and while they were fighting, the donkey took to its heels leaving them both in the scorching sun.
We are at a point in this country where we are witnessing quarrels among institutions that should be working together for the collective benefit of the country and its people.
For instance, the Judiciary has been overstepping on the Executive for a while now. For an institution that is supposed to be the epitome of integrity and rule of law, the Judiciary is becoming an unfortunate story in the mind of Kenyans.
For the past couple of weeks, we have witnessed court decisions made against DCI boss Kinoti that can only be described as a continuation of a bare-knuckled attack on the President and the Executive.
Since being appointed to the position, Kinoti has managed the DCI exceptionally well. Investigations are conducted professionally, lethargy has been eliminated and the institution runs efficiently.
Kinoti has been a man to respect and uphold the rule of law without any exceptions and going after all those who have broken the law. He has arrested all manner of people, including governors, MPs and mighty business people.
Unfortunately, the court has decided to continue its streak of judicial activism by attempting to jail the DCI boss. The rulings have been an affront to the rule of law and seem to just seek to create rifts between the two arms of government.
For the avoidance of doubt, there is no Kenyan who is above the law, and no one is condoning the disobedience of court orders. We must all be guided by law, conform to it and adhere to all court decisions without fail.
However, all that these rulings are just cementing the notion that the Judiciary is corrupt and works for certain individuals. There is a Kenyan 'saying' that it is usually cheaper to bribe a judge than to hire a lawyer. Whether true or not, this defines the perception of the Judiciary, which must be changed.
The Judiciary is the only institution that can effectively fight for justice, and therefore any rot in it must be uprooted to maintain its integrity. We must work towards strengthening the Judiciary as an institution as a way of ensuring that it dispenses its mandate as required.
The question that we are all asking is; Wasn’t there a better way to deal with this? Shouldn’t both arms of government have consulted and found a less bare-knuckled approach?
How hard was it for the judges to understand why the government was not willing to return firearms to civilians?
In this particular case, the DCI is not the culprit. In fact, there is no culprit other than the civilians who were holding firearms against the law. Kinoti acts for an office and is not an individual when holding that title, for the Judiciary to think that it can jail him because of the actions of the government.
Not a single civil servant works on their behalf in government – they all work for the state and the people of Kenya.
When someone is charged in court, the state is always the complainant and anyone who is charged should be suing the government. The fact that the Judiciary decided to allow a civilian to go after Kinoti is suspect and should not be allowed.
The Judiciary needs to be careful not to compromise itself in a way that makes see it as an institution that works for a few individuals. The ruling against Kinoti should therefore be vacated.
