Judges win praise for guarding Constitution
What you need to know:
- Dr Mutunga and his deputy, Kalpana Rawal, observed that since the promulgation of the Constitution, Kenyans had turned to the Judiciary to resolve disputes on various issues.
- The CJ asked judges and magistrates to continue rising to the occasion by rendering decisions based on understanding of the facts, the evidence as presented and applicable in law “even when not always universally acclaimed”.
- The judges are drawn from the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court as well as the Employment and Labour Relations and Environment and Land courts.
Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has praised judges for making significant contribution in advancing the constitutional cause in a difficult political environment.
Dr Mutunga and his deputy, Kalpana Rawal, observed that since the promulgation of the Constitution, Kenyans had turned to the Judiciary to resolve disputes on various issues.
“Kenyans have taken to litigating everything, and with the increasing collapse of the culture of dialogue, the dash to the courts by individuals and institutions has created the impression that this is a country governed by the courts,” said the CJ when he opened the judges’ conference in Mombasa on Monday.
Justice Rawal added: “The departure from the former regime is that the emphasis now lay on constitutional supremacy. It underlined people’s sovereignty above everything else but God. The new constitutional order demanded a shift from our earlier ways of adjudicating disputes and dispensing justice.”
Dr Mutunga commended judges in the Constitutional and Human Rights Division as well as the Judicial Review Division for a good job.
The CJ asked judges and magistrates to continue rising to the occasion by rendering decisions based on understanding of the facts, the evidence as presented and applicable in law “even when not always universally acclaimed”.
The conference sessions are being held in private and journalists were only allowed during the opening ceremony presided over by the CJ.
Ms Judy Thongori, a family lawyer who helped draft the Marriage Bill, was scheduled to give a presentation to the judges yesterday.
All cases filed under a certificate of urgency are currently being heard by one single judge due to the conference.
More than 120 judges are meeting at the Sarova Whitesands Hotel and discussions are largely centred on the context of the Constitution.
The judges are drawn from the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court as well as the Employment and Labour Relations and Environment and Land courts.
