Tuesday, March 27, 2007
LSK AGM
| On Saturday the LSK held its Annual General Meeting which in my view was well attended. The AGM is quite a tense one because it is the time the members get to know the Chairman of the Society. Most motions were shot down or deferred. One that was particularly interesting is the motion to have a 1/3 of the elected members of the council to be women. I am of the view that though affirmative action helps, it should really not apply to learned members of the society. Getting to be a member of LSK is work itself, surely only presenting oneself for voting. Nevertheless the motion was shot down, though eventually 1/3 of the elected members of the society were women. The Chairman of the LSK this year is Eric Okongo Mogeni. What the papers did't say was that as sooon as he was announced Chairman, all lawyers stormed out in protest. Wonder who elected him in the first place. The Ojienda chairmanship has been viewed largely as a failure. It is been largely felt that the LSK chair should abstain from matters which are clearly political. Kenyans have MPs but issues pertaining to the profession have been left largely unattended while the Chair comments on everything political. Lets give the Mogeni man a chance though. |
Friday, March 23, 2007
Events
| The commonwealth Law Conference will be held in Nairobi this year. This will be a perfect event for Kenyan Lawyers to meet with their counterparts from Commonwealth countries. This will be the second time the conference is coming to Africa. For more details check this website Commonwealth Law Conference Meanwhile some Law Student claims the reason she can get a job is due to deragatory comments made about her on the WWW. Check this Article |
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Shoot To Kill?
| The criminal Justice System and its role in preventing crime Crime in Kenya if we are to go by the newspaper reports and news broadcasts is at an all time high this year. From carjacking, murders, shooting of policemen, rape cases crime seems to have entrenched itself in our society. One thing that is clear in the rising of crime is the failure of the criminal justice system to effectively deal with the menace. When I talk of criminal justice system I mean from the police officers, judicial officers, prosecuting officers, and investigators e.t.c. all persons who are responsible for dealing with crime. It is common knowledge that “shoot to kill” has been adopted these days because accordingly because the criminals “accused” always have an easier way out of their mess. State prosecutors are if anything else mediocre, not even the worst of criminal defense lawyers can lose a case against them. They are rarely ready to successfully argue a case and most of the time; lawyers make meat out of them. Mistakes in criminal law are unforgivable! Small omissions on the part of the state prosecutor can lead to an acquittal. More often than not even having a correct charge has proven a challenge. Then there is the burden of proof that should leave no reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the accused. Hence leaving the criminals in the hands of the justice system is tantamount to releasing them with no charges. So the police force has been left helpless because they rely on successful prosecution and the ultimate confinement of alleged criminals behind bars. This has therefore led to the massive shooting of criminals and the brutal retaliation of the criminals on the police. Obviously, there are numerous disadvantages about this shooting to kill phenomenon. It assumes that the person being shot is already guilty and does not give the very constitutional right of a person to a fair hearing or what is commonly referred to as audi alteram partem . As the public we assume for sure that the police have already rightly identified the suspects and the person shot for sure must have been found with the rounds of ammunition. It is though just populist to shoot alleged criminals before their guilt has been proved. What would we achieve with a thorough efficient Criminal Justice System? i. Crimes would definitely go down. ii. The public would stop shielding the criminals because it is a well known fact today that one risks their lives by going to report a criminal to the police. For one, the person reporting may be called to give evidence in court so the accused identifies them. Shortly, that person accused is released and baying for the informer’s blood. As it is now a lot of crime & criminals go unreported. iii. Protection of lives, property is needed for a healthy & robust economic environment. People need to be ensured that persons involved in crime do not get away just like that. Kenya would do with a radical surgery of the criminal justice system. Labels: Crime |