Mr
Justice Isaac Lenaola and Ahmednasir Abdullahi attempt to justify the
purchase of forty Mercedes-Benz vehicles for the Judiciary in an article
in the Daily Nation (We are Transparent: The purchase of vehicles for judges not ostentation; it is within the Constitution, Daily Nation,
Thursday, November 8, 2012). It is easy to dismiss the argument that
judges and magistrates deserve Mercedes-Benz vehicles on the ground that
they have always driven these cars. Mr Abdullahi and Justice Lenaola
argue that they have done so since the 1980s and that another judge,
Richard Kwach, recommended that get even swankier ones for their use.
Justice Lenaola be relieved of responsibility for this hare-brained
scheme; Mr Abdullahi must find a better explanation. After all, during
the tendentious public interviews the Judiciary Service Commission
conducted when looking for judges of the Supreme Court, Mr Adbullahi and
his colleagues on the panel created the impression that the men and
women they were seeking for the highest court had to demonstrate that
they could empathize with the lot of the peoples of Kenya.
The argument that what was done in the past must continue well into the future simply because it is part of their "entitlements and benefits" is an affront to the millions upon millions of Kenyan who pay exorbitant excise duties and VAT just so our high and mighty can lord it up like the truffles-snuffling colonial-era settlers and powers-that-were. Since at least 2003 Kenyans have been called upon to sacrifice "for the sake of the country" and sacrifice we have. NTV recently televised the squalid living conditions of the rank-and-file police officers who stand as a bulwark between us and utter anarchy. Joseph Kinyua, The Treasury PS tells us that to meet the pay-deal arrived at with the police would not cost more than sh3.2 billion.
We seem to have accepted the argument that if one wants a comfortable life, all one has to do is do well in the private sector but cash in in the public sector. When one sees the millions that commissioners trouser every year, one is left in no doubt that the long-suffering masses shall suffer a little longer just so the men and women who decide on their fates can live lives of luxury. The sacrifices we make should be shared by the high and mighty too. It is not unfair to demand that judges and magistrates give up their Mercs, is it? After all, if all they are looking for is comfortable transportation, there is no reason why a Toyota Avensis or Premio should not do. One get the impression that the reason why the two authors are campaigning so strongly for this ostentatious purchase is because in addition to the prestige accompanied by the three-pointed star, they would like to see judges and magistrates one-up their counterparts in Parliament and in the Executive. Especially when it comes to judges of the superior courts, the fact that they trouser millions every year means that, if they are honest with themselves, they do not need government limos; they can all comfortably afford their own without troubling the long-suffering tax-payers of Kenya.
The argument that what was done in the past must continue well into the future simply because it is part of their "entitlements and benefits" is an affront to the millions upon millions of Kenyan who pay exorbitant excise duties and VAT just so our high and mighty can lord it up like the truffles-snuffling colonial-era settlers and powers-that-were. Since at least 2003 Kenyans have been called upon to sacrifice "for the sake of the country" and sacrifice we have. NTV recently televised the squalid living conditions of the rank-and-file police officers who stand as a bulwark between us and utter anarchy. Joseph Kinyua, The Treasury PS tells us that to meet the pay-deal arrived at with the police would not cost more than sh3.2 billion.
We seem to have accepted the argument that if one wants a comfortable life, all one has to do is do well in the private sector but cash in in the public sector. When one sees the millions that commissioners trouser every year, one is left in no doubt that the long-suffering masses shall suffer a little longer just so the men and women who decide on their fates can live lives of luxury. The sacrifices we make should be shared by the high and mighty too. It is not unfair to demand that judges and magistrates give up their Mercs, is it? After all, if all they are looking for is comfortable transportation, there is no reason why a Toyota Avensis or Premio should not do. One get the impression that the reason why the two authors are campaigning so strongly for this ostentatious purchase is because in addition to the prestige accompanied by the three-pointed star, they would like to see judges and magistrates one-up their counterparts in Parliament and in the Executive. Especially when it comes to judges of the superior courts, the fact that they trouser millions every year means that, if they are honest with themselves, they do not need government limos; they can all comfortably afford their own without troubling the long-suffering tax-payers of Kenya.
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