Hundreds of lawyers across Kenya staged a one-day strike on Wednesday to protest an alleged attempt by judges to interfere with the country’s constitutional review process.
Two judges went to court last month in a bid to stop a commission charged with reviewing the east African country’s constitution from making changes to the judicial set-up. ”We have learnt with dismay that the constitution review process in Kenya is threatened by litigation instigated by some judges and advocates allegedly acting in defence of the judiciary,” said East Africa Law Society (EALS) President Nzamba Kitonga.
”We need not emphasise that constitutional reform is the common aspiration of people of the entire East Africa and the current crisis in Kenya can have far reaching cross-border ramifications,” Kitonga said when he addressed the gathered lawyers.
In a draft constitution unveiled last month, the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission (CKRC) proposed that judges retire at the age 65 instead of 74 and made the appointment process more rigorous, among other recommendations.
Hundreds of lawyers marched in the streets of Nairobi to show solidarity with the CKRC. Lawyers in the port city of Mombasa and several other towns also boycotted the courts. The strike affected proceedings in the high court in Nairobi, where only a few cases were heard because most lawyers were absent. Law Society of Kenya (LSK) chair Raychelle Omamo urged the two judges who filed the suit — Moijo ole Keiwua and Vitalis Juma — to withdraw the case. – Sapa-AFP