Former Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Baraza speaks out on what led to her resignation, during an interview on February 6, 2016 at Serena Hotel. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Nancy Baraza was still asleep at her sister’s house in Karen on Friday, October 19, 2012, when she received a call just after 6am. “Ha, so now what will happen to you that you don’t have the big job and the big cars?” the relative on the line wanted to know.
“Congratulations!”
She had resigned only the previous day as the country’s deputy chief
justice and withdrawn her appeal challenging a tribunal decision that
found her unfit to hold office.
“I couldn’t sleep in my
house alone, I was devastated,” she remembers. It was startlingly cruel
to hear someone gloating to her face just hours after she walked away
from the prize of her life’s work.
She
kept away from the public eye for more than three years after that,
using the time to complete her PhD, teach jurisprudence at the
University of Nairobi’s law school and took up large-scale commercial
farming.
She returned to public
scrutiny two Saturdays ago when she sat down with me for a lengthy
tell-all interview. As soon as we announced the sit-down, the
schadenfreude kicked in.
“Baraza
speaks three years after she was fired for threatening a guard with a
gun and later tried to bribe her is now playing victim,” tweeted
activist Boniface Mwangi. That statement is problematic in multiple
ways, without even considering the several
inaccuracies
he is passing off as fact. She was not fired, she resigned and she
denied ever threatening Rebeccah Kerubo with a gun, or even attempting
to bribe her.
The background to
her downfall was well covered, of course. She was accused of pinching
the Village Market mall guard Kerubo’s nose and declaring: “You should
know people!” While Kerubo gave countless interviews after the case
went public, Baraza
never once spoke to a journalist.
MEDIA 'SANITISING WRONGDOERS'?
Yet,
when I finally sat down with her, the common accusation of the Kenyan
media “sanitising wrongdoers” came up again and again. In the court of
public opinion, she had been tried and found guilty without even being
heard. Ironically, that was her
impression
of the tribunal that heard her case. She calls the verdict “extremely
harsh” and deadpans that they found her “almost unfit to breathe God’s
oxygen.”
“Very arrogant woman,
glad she was terminated,” wrote Davis Mate on YouTube. “Tribunal found
her wanting and guilty. She wants to sanctify herself. I find her
reasoning very weak, flimsy as well as wanting - more given disturbing
as legal counsel.”
Even after she
apologised about how she had handled the Kerubo situation and admitted
she wouldn’t act the same way if she got a do-over, the hate didn’t
stop.
“Baraza got power drunk,
threatened a hapless guard doing her job then attempted to bribe her.”
tweeted Sura Mbaya. “She would be in jail elsewhere.”
It
was fascinating to watch the reaction to her speaking out because it
followed the same pattern as that of former Devolution Cabinet Secretary
Anne Waiguru’s. Granted, I wrote on this very same page that she would
have saved herself a lot of the grief
had
she stepped aside when the corruption allegations first surfaced. But
that doesn’t mean she didn’t deserve a fair hearing, or the right to
tell her side of the story.
With
hindsight, both Baraza and Waiguru faced an onslaught from the media, a
trial by soundbite that few would survive. Never let facts get in the
way of a good story appears to be the guiding principle. I am not
acquitting them of the accusations against
them
or pronouncing them guilty; it is not my place to do either. I am only
saying that we should learn to suspend judgment and presume everyone to
be innocent until proven otherwise.
“Let’s
not be that judgmental. We ruin people. Sometimes for no good reason at
all,” Dr Baraza said, addressing Kenyans. “Some of them you don’t even
know and you just ruin them.”
A
few days later, the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission cleared
Waiguru of any wrongdoing at her old ministry. The righteously indignant
wouldn’t have any of that – she had to be guilty or nothing at all.
“But EACC cleansing you is more or less like
getting
baptized by [controversial pastor Victor] Kanyari and walking away with
the belief that you’re clean,” one commentator said.
Why
are we so eager to believe that someone is automatically complicit just
because an accusation has been made against them? The judgmental public
would rather buy into a conspiracy theory than entertain the thought
that maybe someone is innocent.
Admittedly,
strange things happen in Kenya and they have helped erode our trust in
institutions. But condemning people without a fair hearing goes against
the principles of justice. Perceptions are powerful but they shouldn’t
define our reality. Don’t be so
judgmental!
***
KANYE WEST NEEDS HELP, BUT IT’S CERTAINLY NOT CASH
Kanye
West wants Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1 billion in his (West) ideas.
The Facebook founder and billionaire must put his money into West
because West is “the greatest living artiste and greatest artiste of all
time” according to himself.
You
see, Kanye West is $53 million into debt, yet he is “the Jordan and
Steph Curry of music, meaning I’m the best of 2 generations.” You see,
he is different because “All y’all so worried about being likable but
only a few are concerned about being great!!!”
Let’s
not forget that he is this generation’s Disney and can make the world a
better place, for after all, “I have done the impossible…I retook the
throne of rap…I beat the fashion game…” Also, Africa is a country,
according to Kanye West. “You’d rather
open up one school in Africa like you really helped the country.”
But
if Zuckerberg won’t help his favourite artiste, West will accept help
from Google co-founder and Alphabet CEO Larry Page. They must because he
is going to win 100 Grammys before he dies. All those rants were
classic Kanye West, except they were
tweeted out in the space of 24 hours. He says he needs help, but I don’t think it is money he needs.
***
WILL MUSEVENI RETAIN POWER YET AGAIN?
Ugandans
vote tomorrow whether to give President Yoweri Museveni another
five-year term or, according to most analysts, finally give Kizza
Besigye the throne. Both M7’s ruling party and Besigye’s Forum for
Democratic Change are optimistic of a win, as
are
the six other candidates. So serious is the race that President
Museveni agreed to participate in the second presidential debate even
after he dismissed the first one as childish and didn’t show up. Luckily
for him, he did more than just show up.
He
brought a candid clarity of thought and confidence that made his
opponents look like greenhorns. He is still popular in the region but
Ugandans will have to decide whether they like the man with the hat or
it is time for change.
The spin
from his team to justify his 30-year-rule has been spectacular. In the
meantime, Besigye has to survive another day and hope there won’t be
teargas or another trip to the police station.
Related Stories
No comments:
Post a Comment