Almost half Kenyan judiciary corrupt, says report

An investigation by Kenya’s judiciary has found that almost half of the country’s judges and close to a third of its magistrates are corrupt.

At least 23 out of Kenya’s 53 Appeals Court and High Court judges, and 82 out of its over 200 magistrates take bribes, lawyers and other members of the public countrywide told investigators, said High Court Judge Aaron Ringera, who headed the inquiry.

“We are, metaphorically speaking, presenting to you a dragon. It is bound to snort, kick and jump and even attack, for corruption always fights back,” Ringera told Chief Justice Evans Gicheru as he presented his report.

”You have no option but to hold it by the horns and slay it.”

Gicheru answered: “This is a battle we’re going to fight without looking backward. We are going to mount this beast and wrestle it to the ground.”

The investigation began in February, when members of the public and the legal profession were interviewed about corruption in their areas.

The transcripts of these interviews and additional information was reviewed by panel, which spent a week drafting the final report turned in Tuesday.

Bribes were paid in proportion to the gravity of a criminal case or the value being contested in a civil case, and judges of the Appeals Court and High Court received higher bribes than magistrates irrespective of the nature of the cases they were handling, said Ringera.

Under Kenya’s constitution, Gicheru will have to ask President Mwai Kibaki to appoint a tribunal for each of the 23 judges to further investigate them and then recommend the action to be taken against the judges.

As for magistrates, the constitution gives the powers of hiring or firing to the Judicial Service Commission, which Gicheru chairs.

Gicheru’s predecessor, Bernard Chunga, disputed the report wondering how the panel of experts could have reached their conclusions based on a week’s work.

Chunga resigned from office in February when Kibaki appointed a tribunal to investigate him over allegations he participated in political repression in the 1980s and 1990s while he was deputy public prosecutor under former President Daniel arap Moi, who ruled Kenya for 24 years.