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IS THERE JUSTICE?

04/10/2018 04:01:00 By vusi Kunene

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IT would be culturally correct to begin this article by mourning the passing on of the former prime minister. He may have done things wrongly or rightly, but as a human being, it is sad that he passed on. However, among the wrongs he did was what has now become known as the November 28 statement.

He is also famous for having said he was proud of the former chief justice and to later turn to say he was no longer proud. And talking of the former chief justice reminds me of his character just before he fell from grace. I also recall one of his statements when he was being impeached for his wrongs. This statement still rings loud and clear to me, even today. Appointing people not on merit later on becomes a problem.

The former chief justice is said to have stated, in the presence of our current chief justice, that he had put his neck on the block for our chief justice to be appointed. This was really surprising, but it did not hold enough because there was a view that the former chief justice did not want to go down alone. But looking at what is now being done by our current chief justice, I am reminded of that statement.

In my opinion, the former chief justice was basically telling our current chief justice that he did not deserve to be in that position but because of the former, the current was appointed into the position. He was saying return the favour to me because I also did a favour for you. And the question is, what justice are people going to get from a person who was appointed on favour instead of merit?

I have to mention, though, that I have respect for the current chief justice, but what he has been doing since he ascended to the position, is quite disturbing. We have seen him awarding a position, of magistracy to a person who never applied for that position. Despite that there were capable people who applied for the position he decided to award it to a person who had no interest in it. Despite the person complaining and saying he was not qualified to hold that position the chief justice went ahead and appointed him.

The question that came to mind was, what kind of justice was this person going to administer to the public if he himself said he was not ready to occupy that position. I may be wrong but in my knowledge this person is at home idle because he refused to take a position which he felt he was not qualified for. What kind of justice will be given to this employee if it is the head of the Judiciary who is victimising him?

The very same chief justice has issued orders baring certain lawyers from practising. I will not argue on whether it was good or bad for him to act that way, but what I know is that there is no person who is above the law other than those exceptions provided for in our Constitution. Our Constitution provides for the equality of everyone before the law, including the chief justice.

What he did was to unilaterally act against the lawyers without giving them a hearing. Is that the justice that he wants our courts to administer? When the lawyers went to the court so that the chief justice’s actions could be tested by the law, he closed the doors of the courts on them. Why? By so doing, does it mean he knew that his actions would not pass the test of the law and, therefore, decided that these should not be tested? I am not saying the actions of the lawyers were good but at least the courts should have been allowed to pronounce on that after hearing both sides.

The latest now is the drama that we watch in the courts. The Sipho Shongwe case has ruined the little respect there was on our justice system. I am told that if a judicial officer gives a certain judgment in a case and the other party wants a stay of execution, that application should be made before the judicial officer who issued that order. I am also told that both parties should be heard before such is done. I will not agree that Shongwe was not going to be taken back to custody if the judgment granting him bail would be overturned.

We have a precedent of people who have been granted bail but a few days later taken back to custody. Remember what happened to Bheki Makhubu and Thulani Maseko after they were granted bail, but later taken in again? That would have happened even to Shongwe. Then I ask myself if there is different justice for different people in this country? On elder when talking about this just answered me and said; “What would you expect from the Kenya 6? I do not know what he meant but it made me curious to know about Kenya 6.