LAWYERS ARE TRAINED TO ARGUE, AND JUSTIFY INJUSTCES-THEY CANT FIGHT CORRUPTION.

I have always wondered why certain slots are always reticent for lawyers - with due respect to this very good profession.

I do have enough reasons to believe that if we are determined to have a clean country; lawyers should be the last ones to consider in public appointments especially in matters to do with fighting corruption. In fact there should be a note on every appointment stating clearly that ‘’if you are a lawyer, you need not to apply for this job’’ The continued a advertisements that lawyers are the only ones who should head the anti-corruption commission(KACC) war should be rejected by Kenyans.

But even more essentially, are we missing the bigger picture? By burning up energies on who should or should not be head of KACC, whether or not KACC should be disbanded, whether Wako or Gicheru should be the next target, etc, aren't we really missing the focus? To what extent do these cosmetic actions lead to real change in Kenya? I have no answer, but am certain that together we cannot only get the answer but also execute it. I also know that it must go beyond Ringera, AG, PNU, ODM, you and I. Its all about the will and ability to do the job. lawyers have proved unable and therefore unqualified to do the right thing or they have been deliberately ready to justify their failures by bringing forth so many arguments(as their profession teaches) that include ‘frying mbig fissch’,’slaying monsters’.it should also include change in attitude and mindset of lawyers, other professionals (including my own), middle-class, and ordinary Kenyans - without which transformational change is not possible. In short, we must look at the bigger picture (without ignoring - but not over-concentrating on - the smaller pictures). One of my policies: Think big, start small, scale fast.

I actually think that one of the tragedies of our reform movement in Kenya, and the reason it is not going anywhere, is that it has been "lawyerized" to the extreme. We have moved from the point where politicians monopolized reform talk to one where lawyers monopolize reform processes and institutions. It is not clear to me that lawyers of the mould that one finds in Kenya, are necessarily best qualified for this. There is no reason why all the key reform institutions should be led or filled with lawyers.

Our first Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs was Tom Mboya. He was not a lawyer, but no one has ever suggested that he was any less effective in his job. I think we are in danger of confusing the input with the output. I agree that law is an important input into the process of governance, but the truth is that there is much more to governance than law.

Watching the recent debates in Parliament about Ringera, convinced me beyond doubt that just as we insist soldiers should remain in the barracks; advocates should remain in the courtroom. There is an analogy between the advocate in politics with the professional boxer in a street fight. If you watch our lawyers in Parliament, it is evident that they do not distinguish between arguing there and arguing in court.

The legal profession engenders individuals solely trained to argue in support or against something whether wrong or right all depending on the side of the bread that is buttered. the lawyers are taking advantage of this country and its high time Kenyans realized that some jobs are meant for people who have the will and dedication to other than those who claim to have professional authority to argue and justify wrong things. such people can not be entrusted to fight corruption. its the kind of recycling we should avoid because at KACC the three officials who were forced to resign after irregular reappointment were all lawyers by profession. Since the only power they had was the academic training in arguments, they had not been able to do anything significant in the fight against corruption for five years. That is why we must be determined to join hands and fight this conspiracy by people in the legal profession who imagine that any public appointment is meant for them. Examples are many; do you need a degree in law to head the elect oral commission? Do you have to have a degree in law to lead the boundaries commission? Do you have to have a degree in law to know that stealing public resources is bad? The examples of lawyers in power has always impacted negatively historically even during the days of Jesus Christ .Jesus openly rebuked these fellows who in the bible are referred to as teachers of the law. They always corrupted the law to suit their selfish whims. That is what is happening in Kenya now .most of the public servants who have been given jobs on the strength that they belong to the legal profession have always failed. Now is the time that we need to face and act on the basis of the truth and not arguments. We need to fight this conspiracy by these people in the legal fraternity, if we are truly dedicated to getting rid of bad practices like corruption. It’s the same lawyers who use the law to perpetrate and defend acts of corruption and other social evils through morally unjustifiable arguments when they appear in court. This sort of conspiracy has got many organisations unawares and now they are enslaved by these people who are trained to argue but do nothing practically beneficial. without necessarily naming names, I would like you to reflect on the kind of individuals we have had as lawyers and the kind of mess they have created in this country. the anti corruption chief should be a person with an understanding in carrying out investigations and with the self will. HOWEVER ,most important is the person who has will and intention to fight corruption, not one who is merely going to engage us in debates, based on the training in his profession. NOT A LAWYER.

We need to change this mindset of recycling individuals in the name of searching for lawyers to fill any vacant position available. I reject the conspiracy.

josephkipkorir@yahoo.com

mzalendowabidii.blogspot.com