OTANI: Has CJ Willy Mutunga lost the war on graft in the Judiciary?

The admission by Chief Justice Dr. Willy Mutunga that the election of Judges and Magistrates representatives in the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) was marred by voter bribery is telling.

The revelations by Mutunga at an event organized by Wajibu Wetu Movement in Nairobi on the night of Thursday, January 28^th this year, can only mean the good old CJ is feeling subdued by corruption and its networks in the Judiciary and might have given up on the fight as he waits to exit.

The country’s Judiciary finds itself in a tight spot, integrity-wise, given that a senior Judge at the Supreme Court is being investigated over graft allegations.

Last week, JSC formed a six-member committee to probe Justice Philip Tunoi over allegations that he received Ksh 200 million to rule in favour of Nairobi Governor Dr. Evans Kidero in an electoral petition.

The ultimate integrity of the Supreme Court and the Judiciary at large, headed by Mutunga, depends, majorly, on how the committee conducts the investigations and its verdict.

The committee, headed by the Public Service Commission (PSC) boss Prof. Margaret Kobia, was given seven days to investigate Justice Tunoi in the wake of corruption allegations against him.

Justice Tunoi is battling allegations by former Kass FM journalist Geoffrey Kiplagat that he pocketed Ksh 200 million from Governor Kidero to ensure an election petition filed by Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu challenging his election is determined in his favor, in a verdict issued on August 29th, 2014.

Less than two weeks ago, in an interview with a Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, Mutunga said that the country was at war with ‘mafia-style’ cartels operated by political bosses and corrupt business people and “collects millions everyday”. He likened the mafia to Al Capone’s mob in 1920s America.

The CJ had gone further to claim that corruption in the country stretches from the very bottom to the very top of society.

These ‘bold’ statements by Dr. Mutunga are indicative of a CJ who is inadvertently or consciously admitting that corruption has become mightier than him in the Judiciary and that the judicial institution might as well have lost the battle on graft. A poignant admission.

The 69-year-old former civil society key player, who was dismissed from the university and imprisoned in 1982 after an aborted coup under retired President Daniel arap Moi, took lead of the Judiciary with a promise to reform it and get rid of corruption that was deeply rooted for years.

His latest revelation and admission is that Judiciary is ‘becoming synonymous with graft’, meaning nothing in the corridors of justice has really morphed under his tenure, as far as the fight against graft is concerned.

Questions are also being floated on why the CJ took long to act on the affidavit filed by Kiplagat against Justice Tunoi.

Nevertheless, no matter the verdict of the committee probing the bribery claims against Tunoi, the recent corruption allegations have already dented the image of the Judiciary. But can the Judiciary redeem itself and be plausible enough to members of the public?

The CJ has admitted that the election of representatives to the JSC was a corruption playground, yet the same JSC members are supposed to lead the war against graft in the Judiciary.

Mutunga needs to step on some toes if he has to restore the dignity, respect and sanity in Judiciary.

The CJ, a former chair of the Law Society of Kenya and Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC), finds himself at crossroads and what he does now, with or without the help of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Keriako Tobiko and the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC), will determine whether the crucial arm of the government will sink deeper into sleaze and perish or get a new lease of life by breaking all existing corruption cartels that he seems to know well before fading into black.

Dr. Willy Mutunga, the ball is in your court. DECIDE!