YVONNE’S TAKE: The judge and the Sonko leaks

You may have seen the Sonko leaks by now. If not, I am sure you have seen the on-going conversation around it and more as we go. Now, we may take different sides on the purported expose. But it may have continued to be speculative, until the judge in question himself came out to defend himself. Now, we are all drawn into it.

Now, as you know, judges do not typically comment on matters out in the public domain, or in the court of public opinion. But Justice Chitembwe has broken rank with this and now, we can all have a conversation around the allegations and his defence of the same.

Now, before we go any further, all are innocent until proven guilty and we will only know how true or otherwise the allegations are, if and hopefully when a full investigation is done into the matters raised in the now infamous Sonko leaks. Which is why I found it interesting to see the judge come out to defend himself and try to explain some details about it all. How he is related to former governor Sonko, about how one of the meetings took place in his house, but not in his living room, but a room right at the entrance to his house which has some chairs to receive visitors, amongst many other details that were rather curious.

It is all very murky and messy, whichever way you look at it. The proverbial saying that judges are supposed to be beyond reproach like Caesar’s wife couldn’t ring more true than in this instance. Considering that this is not the first time we are seeing Justice Chitembwe in a spot of trouble in a span of just a few months. This whole saga follows his arrest not more than 6 months ago by EACC officers over bribery allegations.

Once again, he is innocent until proven guilty. However, perception is everything. It is what keeps one’s authority intact. It is what goes ahead of you before you even speak. Now that he has waded into the whole debate, I wonder what this means for his stature and that of the office he holds, or, more importantly, the bench he sits on. How would litigants perceive him after all this? They will look at the judge and remember the video, his interview.

The leaked tapes and conversations, the interview and the previous issues surrounding Justice Chitembwe and others who have been mentioned or will be mentioned in the ongoing Sonko leaks, do nothing for the stature of the judiciary, for its independence, for an arm of government that has remained the only hope for a country that is heading to what is a politically fractitious time in this country. They do nothing for the many Kenyans who troop to the corridors of justice every single day seeking a solution to their disputes.

The public nature of this saga and its sheer ugliness should surely jolt the entire justice system in the country. And in the circumstances, the Chief Justice through the Judicial Service Commission would do well to intervene in what is now becoming egg on the face of the judiciary.

That’s my take.