You could almost hear a sharp intake of breath around the world’s human rights community when news broke at the weekend of moves to impeach Kenya’s Chief Justice, David Maraga. Just days before, he had been one of a Bench of judges that found Kenya’s 8 August elections invalid and ordered a re-run. Now, a member of the disappointed political party – apparently trying to get his own back – claimed that the judge was part of an international ‘regime change’ conspiracy, and petitioned for an inquiry leading to dismissal.
The MP has subsequently agreed to withdraw his petition, at least for the moment. The content of his spurious complaint is worth examining in some detail, but for now it serves another purpose: it puts Kenya on the growing list of African countries in which the judiciary, judicial independence and the rule of law, are all under serious threat.
...