In his public Lecture titled ‘Politics, the Media and Independence of the Judiciary: A Personal Footnote’, delivered in the 4th Annual ACME Lecture on Politics and the Media at Kampala, Uganda; His Emeritus the Chief Justice Willy Mutunga had the following in mind on the seduction of trappings of power as a possible threat to the independence of judiciary and his deliberate efforts to avert the same;
'The first of these insidious influences is the seduction of power. I encountered the seduction of power through the various rituals on the day of my swearing in on June 20, 2011. I was driven in a Mercedes Benz by a police officer in his ceremonial uniform. My brother, my son and my daughter were driven in a SUV behind me. A convoy of cars driving judges and members of JSC followed. We had police outriders and police cars with sirens. The route to State House did not have moving traffic except our convoy. I could see Kenyans lined up along the route waiting for our convoy to pass. Suddenly, I was beginning to like this ritual. I even thought of asking the driver to open the roof so that I could greet the Wananchi! Then I stopped dead in my tracks.
I recalled an experience in Harare when I and others were kept waiting for President Mugabe’s motorcade to pass. We were not allowed to cross the road until after he passed, a hour later with sirens and a convoy of sleek cars. A white man who waited with me, cursing and hissing, finally looked at me, smiled and said:”There goes Bob and the Wailers.” That incident reminded me of my position on these motorcades of VIPs, an expensive, extravagant, and uncaring nonsense meant to intimidate the public.
When we got to State House I was the centre of attention. The President, Prime Minister, the Vice-President, the Speaker, Ministers and bureaucrats welcomed me to their club with open arms. The swearing-in took place witnessed by the representatives of the three arms of state. Photos were taken (my brother and my kids had photos taken with all these powerful men. There were a few women the Registrar of the Judiciary being among them), video, and the Presidential Press Unit was in attendance. Even my short speech which warned them “Be ye so high, but the law is above you” did not dampen the festivities. That feeling of happiness, kept on coming back into my head. I would push it back on every occasion.
It was now time to go back to the Supreme Court where other judges waited. The media also waited. I was to make another speech on the steps of the Supreme Court. I was escorted to my car by among others Professor K. Kibwana who was then the President’s constitutional adviser. There was now a new Mercedes Benz, flying the national flag with new number plates that read CJ1. I had more security personnel in my car and others in the “chase car.” With the sirens on and noisy I got to the Supreme Court in five minutes.
That night I reflected on the seduction of power and banished its various forms. I decided to resist it and came up with strategies to do so. A few days ago I read this poem by Issa Shivji. I was happy I had heeded his warning:
Going to bed with power is romantic
It’s seductive
Avoid power like plague
For it’s infectious
It kills the human in you
Planting a ghost’
Quite informative, is it not?