Msagha however more or less talked himself out of the race when he called into question his independence by stating:
“That was a three judge decision and when you retire to chambers and you conference, you may not have a voice even if it’s a dissenting voice, in a ruling of that nature… This is a decision one regrets and if revisited, would definitely give a different decision.”
READ: Self-effacing judge regrets Moi decision
Courage, Executive Director of the Kenya chapter of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa Felix Odhiambo told Capital FM News, being a non-negotiable attribute for a Chief Justice.
Kitonga being the only ‘non-judge’ in the above list, however successfully managed to challenge the ‘outsider’ tag in his interview telling Attorney General Githu Muigai: “I don’t regard myself as an outsider because I’m in court every day, I see how the courts run. I’m the one who knows the suffering that we undergo at the registry. You go to the underground cells where people are held and you can see the stench that comes out from there. This is what I call an insider.”
READ: Kitonga makes no bones with ‘radical’ views at CJ interview
Constitutional expert Bobby Mkangi’s definition of insider/outsider was different in the sense that the ideal Chief Justice, to him, would be one committed to judicial transformation and not to the old Constitutional dispensation; an ‘out’ of the box thinker.
Managerial skills and community engagement, he said, are also not to be underestimated.
“Realising the Constitutional aspiration of access to justice to for all is more than just about the hardware,” he said.
And the courage Odhiambo made reference to, is the courage to correct the missteps of the Supreme Court under the presidency of retired Chief Justice Willy Mutunga.
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