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The Rule of Law and Lawyers in Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Extract

Kenya has for many years enjoyed a reputation for political stability, democratic institutions, lack of corruption, and economic growth, unlike a number of other countries in Africa. The Government has sought to emphasise this image in order to retain and attract foreign investment and aid, and to maintain a booming tourist industry. But for some time a corrosion of the rule of law has been taking place behind the facade of legitimacy, a process so accelerated during 1990 and 1991 that many people have questioned the validity of Kenya's reputation.

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Articles
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

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3 The University College of Dar es Salaam began its existence by establishing a Department (later Faculty) of Law for the University of East Africa in 1961. Many of the first students from Kenya became leaders of the movement for civil liberty in their country.

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6 Ghai, loc. cit. p. 150.

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12 One way the courts avoid dealing with these issues is finding that a violation of a specific constitutional right is not justiciable. See High Court of Kenya, Koigi wa Wamwere u The Attorney General, 1990,Google Scholar reported in The Nairobi Law Monthly, 30, 1991, p. 44.Google Scholar For detailed discussions of the destruction of the Constitution by the courts, see A. Vasquez, ‘Is the Bill of Rights Enforceable After July 4, 1989?’, in ibid. 20, 1990, p. 8; Kathurima M'Inoti, ‘The Reluctant Guard: the High Court and the decline of constitutional remedies in Kenya’, in ibid. 34, 1991, pp. 17–26; Wachira Maina, ‘Justice Dugdale and the Bill of Rights’, in ibid. 34, 1991, pp. 27–36; and Kuria, loc. cit.

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36 Ibid. pp. 145–58. This chapter describes in detail how the Government controls the judiciary. See also, Harden, op. cit. p. 126, for a discussion of how Moi Chose a new Chief Justice who was likely to obey his wishes and keep other judges in line.

37 Kenya: taking liberties, pp. 152–3.

38 See Hannan, Lucy, ‘Bias and Judicial Outrage’, in New Law Journal (London), 141, 1991, pp. 900901.Google Scholar See also, ‘Constitutional Law According to Mr. Justice Dugdale’, in The Nairobi Law Monthly, 34, 1991, pp. 1516, and M'Inoti, loc. cit.Google Scholar

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41 Harden, op. cit. p. 129.

42 Ibid. pp. 124–5.

43 The 1987 Amnesty International report is cited in ibid.

44 Kenya: taking liberties, pp. 106–7. See specially ch. 6 on torture and ch. 10 on prison conditions. Also, Hannan, Lucy, ‘Sedition by Edition’, in Africa Report (New York), 36, 3, 0506 1991, p. 49.Google Scholar

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52 See Moustapha Seck, ‘A Plea for Human Rights Education in Africa’, in ibid. 11, 1990, pp. 283–99, which shows how this is being done in some countries – in Senegal, for example, by the establishment of the African Institute of Human Rights.

53 Quoted in Harden, op. cit. p. 263.

54 Ibid. pp. 266–7.

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65 Kuria and Murungi, op. cit.

66 Ibid.

67 Paul Kibugi Muite was elected chairman by 385 votes to 88 for his opponent, according to the Sunday Nation (Nairobi), 10 03 1991.Google ScholarThe Standard on Sunday (Nairobi),Google Scholar and the Sunday Times (Nairobi), 10 03 1991, gave the votes as 345 to 88.Google Scholar

68 Sunday Times, 10 March 1991.

69 The Nation, 12 March 1991, The Standard, 14 March 1991, and The Weekly Review, 15 March 1991.

70 The Nation, 15 March 1991, and The Weekly Review, 22 March 1991.

71 The Standard, 16 March 1991.

72 See Kenya: taking liberties, p. 150. Also, Perlez, Jane, ‘Kenya Tightening Curbs on Dissent’, in The New York Times, 13 September 1991.Google Scholar

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75 Ibid.

76 See Kenya: taking liberties, chs. 20 and 21, for the interactions between the Kenyan/British/American Governments. The listed number of detainees on p. 128 shows that there were none in 1984, 1985, and 1989.Google Scholar

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