For public office job, a person’s history is the best judge
Justice David Majanja at the Supreme Court Nairobi on April 13, 2021 during the interviews for the position of Chief Justice. When he was interviewing former public prosecutor Philip Murgor, he said, “A man is his history.” PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG
In one of the ongoing interviews for the position of Chief Justice of Kenya, High Court judge David Majanja, a member of the Judicial Service Commission that is conducting the interviews, got engaged in a memorable exchange with Philip Murgor, a former public prosecutor during the reign of Daniel arap Moi. In those days, the judiciary and parliament were mere extensions of the executive. Parliament was used to pass dictatorial laws which the courts ruthlessly enforced.
Sedition, which encompassed any utterance or action deemed to be critical of the regime, was such a statute. People arrested under this law would be tortured in specially-constructed torture chambers at Nyayo House in order to get a confession, then hurled before courts which often sat at night.
