Faith Odhiambo: Transparency will restore trust in courts

Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo has called on the Judiciary to embrace transparency to curb corruption allegations facing some judges.

According to Odhiambo, certain judicial officers have hidden behind the shield of judicial independence—exploiting the fact that their decisions are largely immune to scrutiny- to unleash tyranny on subjects appearing before them.

“Sometimes the devil is in the details in the decisions, and that is why you see corruption in the decisions that make no sense and are not based in law,” said Odhiambo on Spice FM on Tuesday. 

“The public opinion right now feels that the good judges are not in a majority. The crisis the Judiciary is having is that of convincing Kenyans that they will get fairness.”

Judges have recently come under fire over allegations of bribery, misconduct, and deliberate delays in delivering rulings in high-stakes cases.

While acknowledging professional misconduct within the legal fraternity, the LSK boss noted that although the Society can take action against implicated lawyers, including revoking their licenses, rogue judges fall under the jurisdiction of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

“I’ve seen situations where a lawyer is not even needed. Some judges go directly to the client, especially when they see their net worth and potential. They look for agents to reach them,” she claimed adding, “the higher burden lies with the bench.”

Prominent lawyers, including former LSK President Nelson Havi and city lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi, have recently made impassioned appeals for action against judges they accuse of accepting bribes to skew rulings.

Former CS Raphael Tuju has also petitioned the JSC over five Supreme Court judges, who have since moved to court to block the proceedings—potentially threatening their positions on the bench of the apex court.

Last week, Chief Justice Martha Koome acknowledged the corruption across court stations and announced the formation of Court Integrity Users Committees to address complaints.

“Let’s see a transparent and open process from the time the complaint is made. As a complainant, you don’t want to wait to get a notification that the file was closed because of insufficient evidence,” said LSK President.