“One of the things I did was to look for people who had gone back to school and then graduated and they didn’t tell anybody because they thought they would be transferred or they would be punished so we looked for them and we gave them new tasks. Those people became part of that constituency because they faced oppression, unfairness.”
The reforms also considered interests of special groups such as women, people living with disability and HIV/AIDS in efforts to promote equality of marginalised groups.
The next phase involved cracking down of the cartels of brokers that had spread their wings to the interior of judicial offices.
“We knew our clerks and our secretaries had been captured by legal firms. They were basically working for them. That’s why files were disappearing and proceedings were not being typed on time,” Dr Mutunga recalled.
He appreciated former Judiciary Chief Registrar Gladys Shollei for being the force that drove them out of the precincts of the courts.
“You know I have never said this because people think I attacked Shollei and I don’t appreciate her. Shollei came and actually, I accredit her with destroying those cartels.”
Dealing with the external cartels was not enough.
According to the former CJ it was difficult to fight corruption among judicial staff especially judges and magistrates.
But the vetting process for judges and magistrates, Dr Mutunga recalled was a blessing in disguise “because they were actually fighting for their dear lives so the internal resistance was not as fierce as it was.”
Though it is apparent that a lot has been achieved at the Judiciary compared to five years ago, the Judiciary at the helm of Dr Mutunga was accused of corruption and inefficiency.
Controversies of massive corruption involving judges and magistrates got sour and to crown it all was the drama that ensued after former Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and Supreme Court Judge Philip Tunoi refused to retire after attaining the age of 70.
The disarray that followed the Supreme Court ruling of the appeal that forced the judges to retire clearly demonstrated the outright differences among the Supreme Court Judges including Dr Mutunga.
Despite the hurdles, Dr Mutunga believed the journey of transforming the judiciary was complex and cannot be completed overnight and just like Leicester, he was certain that the judiciary will one day meet the expectations of Kenya.
“The other metaphor is turning a ship tank – these institutions when you transform them, it is not a speed boat. It’s a huge thing and all you need to do is make sure that it faces the right direction and that is what we have done.”
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