Woman who sends the wheels of justice spinning

• Achode brought together all 327 magistrates and 17 kadhis on short notice for the swearing-in ceremony that was brought forward from Saturday to Friday

Her spirit is exuberant, her gait graceful and one may not match it to the weight of the Judiciary that falls on her shoulders.

Ms Lydia Awino Achode is the Registrar of the High Court and advocate who played a key role during the promulgation ceremony.

“We worked round the clock to ensure the ceremony was perfect,” she told the Nation at the High Court on Monday.

The occasion brought together the three arms of government to usher in what will strengthen the trio in days to come.

“The changes have come at an opportune time when we have been calling for the strengthening of the Judiciary,” she says.

Ms Achode likens the relationship between the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary to the traditional three-stone cooking place where each stone supports the cooking pot.

“That is the collaboration that will be observed because for the meal to be well cooked the pot has to be balanced on the three stones.”

And the pot symbolises the Second Republic.

She was charged with the task of bringing together all 327 magistrates and 17 kadhis on short notice for the swearing in ceremony that was brought forward from Saturday to Friday.

“I received a call at 6pm from a colleague that Parliament had voted to have the ceremony the following day instead of Saturday,” she says.

And the headache of calling the judicial staff in all corners of the country began, a task that she accomplished in less than five hours.

“Everyone was sworn in,” she says flashing a smile.

Away from the robe, hood, wig, belt and sash that are the official attire, lies a mother of four whose passion is taking care of her family.

She graduated top of her law class in 1980; a nun had earlier encouraged her to take up law.

Competently acted