I am not aware of corruption in Judiciary: Kasango

High Court judge Mary Kasango’s denial that there is corruption in the Judiciary put her in trouble on Wednesday during the interview for the post of Deputy Chief Justice.

The Judicial Service Commission members did not take her denial kindly.

Ahmednasir Abdullahi: There are complaints of corruption, incompetence, favouritism and laziness in the Judiciary. How big is the problem?

Kasango: It is not always that when a party loses a case there is corruption. It is only rumours.

Ahmednasir: Are you saying that there is no corruption in the High Court and the Court of Appeal?

Kasango: I am not aware of cases of corruption. I normally move into my chambers, do my work and leave at the end of the day.

Ahmednasir: If you are not aware of corruption in the Judiciary, then how do you want to become the Deputy Chief Justice, yet everyone knows about it?

Kasango: I am a hands-on person and if I notice there is corruption, I will devise a mechanism to deal with it.

Amos Wako: Are you saying in your capacity as magistrate and a judge you have not heard anything about corruption in the Judiciary?

Kasango: I was only faced with corruption when I was an advocate and it involved staff at the court registry. I have heard rumours that some of my colleagues are corrupt, but I have not established the truth.

Christine Mango: The public perception is that the Judiciary is very corrupt. What mechanisms will you put in place, if recommended for the post, to convince the public that there is no corruption in the Judiciary?

Kasango: There is the Anti-Corruption Act, which will guide our operations. I will initiate training for judicial officers so that they effect the policy.

Titus Gateere: If a member of the Judiciary is corrupt, the perception is that all the officials are corrupt. How will you address the problem?

Kasango: I will propose establishment of a trap to find the corrupt and develop a proposal to dismiss junior corrupt officers and senior members of the Judiciary in the same breadth.

Ahmednasir: There has been the question of who you know to get a job. Do you think politicians have been using the Judiciary to dump their cronies?

Kasango: It is true and I noticed it while I was a practising advocate. There are people in the Judiciary who do nothing; they just sit there enjoying their benefits.

Gateere: Would you propose to the Chief Justice to formulate the signing of performance contracts among judicial officers?

Kasango: It would be difficult to sign performance contracts because we normally do comprehensive returns to the Chief Justice at the end of each month.