By Donald Kipkorir
Dr. Willy Mutunga rode to the Judiciary like a Prince in a shining armor, but on the midnight of June 15, 2016, he will turn 70, and mandatorily fade into History like a witch. His tenure as our first Chief Justice under The Constitution promulgated in August 2010, was hopeless, fickle, uninspiring and rudderless. He reprobated and approbated in leadership. A leadership that was zilch.
CJ Mutunga, as per his tiny admirers, may have wrestled the Judiciary from the Executive and corruption enterprise in the judiciary. But he immediately handed the Judiciary to a small Cabal that took its guidance from the rule book of the Sicilian Mafia.
This Cabal immediately begun preparing the successor to the CJ because they knew his age will give him one of the shortest tenures. The Cabal blackmailed, intimidated and bribed to achieve their aim. This Cabal hates powerful women. Nancy Baraza, Gladys Boss Shollei & Njoki Ndungu are a bane to the Cabal.
Unlike a true Sicilian family that would have made him the Boss, Mutunga ceded the leadership of the Judiciary Cosa Nostra to this Cabal, and he became a mere figurehead, a Capo Bastone! The real leadership of the Judiciary was outsourced to lawyers in private practice, who became the real Capo di tutti Capi!
Mutunga’s leadership was like a séance; leadership in the dark of night with few trusted co-conspirators, the Consigliere. He leaves with no lasting legacy other than buildings. He leaves no memorable judgment. No stare decisis. No philosophy. He came with little and he leaves with nothing.
Jesus would have been glad to say: Woe to you, Willy Mutunga, you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourself did not want to enter and you have hindered those who were entering.
The Incoming leadership of Justices Isaac Lenaola, Alnashir Visram, Kihara Kariuki, Njoki Ndungu, and Professors Githu Muigai and Makau Mutua , will only be redemptive.
