The mystery of absentee chief justice in Judiciary mess
Chief Justice Willy Mutunga. After four years at the helm of the judicial arm of government, and having announced he will be retiring in June next year, how many Kenyans can honestly say that they know who Dr Mutunga is? FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- But after four years at the helm of the judicial arm of government, and having announced he will be retiring in June next year, how many Kenyans can honestly say that they know who Dr Mutunga is?
- With retirement still nine months away, the Chief Justice probably has enough time on his hands to provide leadership and protect the dignity of the Judiciary from destructive turf wars.
Who is Dr Willy Mutunga?
It would seem odd to ask that of one of Kenya’s top three public servants.
Besides, Dr Mutunga’s hiring as chief justice back in 2011 turned out to be one of the most dramatic shows on national television, with judicial and parliamentary vetting committees taking turns to test his reformist credentials, interrogate his leadership style and dig up his lifestyle.
Nothing seemed to be off limits, including the little stud on one ear, religious beliefs and even sexual orientation.
How about that for transparency!
But after four years at the helm of the judicial arm of government, and having announced he will be retiring in June next year, how many Kenyans can honestly say that they know who Dr Mutunga is?
SHOCK-AND-AWE
Is the man you watched on TV — all humble, calm and collected — the same one who has overseen a Judiciary at perpetual war with itself for the past four years?
Is he the same man who, amid the ongoing dispute between the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the Supreme Court over the retirement age for judges appointed under the old Constitution, has failed to restore order at the two key institutions despite his vantage position as the head of both?
Is he the same man once depicted in leaked emails as scheming with his aides a mercenary-style ouster of the then Chief Registrar of the Judiciary in an operation dubbed “shock-and-awe”?
The Chief Justice has casually sought to play down the latest conflict involving the JSC and Supreme Court judges as a normal expression of the freedoms that came with the new Constitution.
But the fact that the conflict has been let to degenerate into an ugly public fight, putting at stake the dignity of the Judiciary in the process, suggests pitiful personal leadership flaws that cannot be concealed with empty rhetoric about freedoms.
ADMINISTRATIVE CHAOS
Leaders exist to offer solutions to problems in their organisations, not run away from the problems or leave the organisations to run on auto-pilot.
And, administrative chaos should never be passed off as democracy.
With retirement still nine months away, the Chief Justice probably has enough time on his hands to provide leadership and protect the dignity of the Judiciary from destructive turf wars.
That might even add a few paragraphs to the nice stories about Dr Mutunga’s legacy that we will inevitably be reading in the newspapers between now and June 2016.
Surely, there has to be a few people out there who are beginning to find the usual narrative about the judges’ wig and courtroom etiquette monotonous.
And, instead of “Mutunga Legacy”, there has to be a few people out there waiting to read about the “Mystery of Willy Mutunga” or “The Absentee Chief Justice”.
