Speak now or weep later.

I am compelled to revisit one of Mwenda Njoka's declarations from yesterday's Daily Nation. In Reasons why the country's security is in a shambles, and what to do about it (Daily Nation, 25/06/14) Mr Njoka seems to suggest that if only the courts co-operated with the forces of law and order and intelligence organisations in their fight against terrorism, we will have done a lot to take the war to al Shabaab and similar organisations.

The Good Old Days - Jomo Kenyatta's fifteen years and Daniel Moi's twenty-four -  should serve as a stark warning to those who would prefer to see a cozy relationship between intelligence officers, law enforcement officers, public prosecutors and the courts. During the heydays of the Presidency-Judiciary-Police cohabitation, the number of Kenyans that got railroaded is simply staggering. One of the allegations that has simply refused to die down revolves around the dubious practice of prosecutors determining the judicial hours of business, and judges and magistrates actually handing down sentences pre-determined by the Presidency and reinforced by the prosecutors. 

Those calling for a re-creation of that relationship might have persuaded themselves that that terrorists have removed themselves from the Pale of Political Discourse and that they have the unremitting hostility of the peoples of Kenya; no one will mourn the infringement of terrorists' rights, especially after they have shed blood and destroyed private property. And they might be right, too. But they shouldn't pretend that an insidious plot to weaken judicial independence is something that they should be applauded for. Instead, we as a nation should be very, very afraid.

Today it is terrorists, armed robbers and child molesters. Pretty soon it will be troublesome politicians, overeager trade unionists, or intellectuals who will not toe the preferred presidential party line. There are few leaders who set out to craft together a dictatorship; circumstances, many of them argue afterwards, and infinitesimal incremental change brought them to the point where they jailed "enemies of the State." All of them, however, usually start out with one clear enemy; but by the time they are done and they are being carried feet first out of the Presidential Palace, everyone has become an enemy.

The suggestion that Kenyans should watch idly as it is suggested that the independence of the Judiciary is whittled away don't think much of our dark past. The Constitution is flawed, but its flaws will not resolve themselves by whittling away at what little autonomy that exists between the arms of government. The President and Parliament have attempted to bully the Judiciary, without success. The suggestion of flexibility and teeth to deal with bail demands by terror suspects is the sharp end of the spear that will eventually be driven into the judicial heart of this country. If we allow such suggestions to gain credence, when they come for us, there will be no one to speak on our behalf.