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How State finally captured Kenya’s legal profession
Lawyer Paul Mwangi during an interview at his office in Nairobi on May 17, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Corruption and political patronage have been synonymous with the mention of the word "lawyer".
- The book Black Bar traces the history of legal practice in the country from the colonial days through its 10 chapters.
The legal fraternity in the country has had its fair share of swings and bends with legal practitioners enjoying love and hate in equal measure.
Corruption and political patronage have been synonymous with the mention of the word "lawyer" with many people having a story or two to tell about the profession.
However, The Black Bar, a book by Mr Paul Mwangi, a seasoned lawyer and legal adviser of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, is arguably the most compelling read into the corruption and political intrigues within Kenya’s legal fraternity.
The book traces the history of legal practice in the country from the colonial days through its 10 chapters.
The story plot discusses the politics of the formation and growth of the legal profession in Kenya and of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) against the background of colonialism, neocolonialism and dictatorship.
“Spanning the entire 20th century, the story reviews the concept of independence of the Bar by looking at the political reality in Kenya and by placing lawyers within a particular social and political context,” says Mr Mwangi.
The author, drawing from his over 30 years of legal practice and research, takes the reader through an intriguing journey from the emergence of legal practice in Kenya, which began in the 1900s, and was a preserve of the Whites, hence the White Bar.
Wind of change
But with more Africans showing interest in legal practice, a wind of change would sweep through Kenya.
Mr Chiedo More Gem Argwings Kodhek became first black barrister in Kenya in 1951, breaking the glass ceiling for his contemporaries.
The book opens with the story of the White Bar offering a glimpse into the earlier days of the legal practice in the country before and at the height of agitation for independence.
The writer brings to the fore how racist white legal professionals looked down upon their Asian and African counterparts.
Stage-managed trials, racist attitudes by the judges and magistrates, and miscarriages of justice were the order of the day.
White lawyers sympathetic to the natives were frustrated at every turn with one Dennis Nowell Pritt, a senior London barrister and a world-renowned political lawyer, who was representing Mzee Jomo Kenyatta at the time, being a classic case.
The LSK, composed mainly of English barristers and solicitors, rather than protecting the rule of law, became an appendage of the colonial government as it violated the basic human rights of the locals.
Founded in 1929, the LSK was always at the beck and call of the colonial government.
However, the hegemony by the White lawyers would start facing opposition with Africans’ interest in the legal practice beginning to rise in the 1960s with several wanting to follow in the footsteps of pioneers like Kodhek.
Africans began to initiate and promote scholarship among themselves with the majority of the African students enrolling for Law degrees in foreign universities.
Hurdles kept coming their way through the LSK coming up with prohibitive rules that would block the entry of African lawyers into the legal profession but the thirst for education by the natives would not be quickly doused as the determination kept burning bright.
One Judge, the Right Honourable Lord Denning, was at the centre of this renaissance that would mark the emergence of the Black Bar.
The book Black Bar traces the history of legal practice in the country from the colonial days through its 10 chapters.
He became the chief advocate for the establishment of a system of training for African lawyers.
He was the chief advocate for the cause and a Law Faculty at the University College of Dar es Salaam in Tanganyika and a Law School in Nairobi were born.
The White-LSK, opposed to the plans, would object to the ensuing changes.
The author introduces Lee Muthoga as one of the leading lights of the Black Bar
The newly independent Kenya was undergoing turmoil with President Jomo Kenyatta and his cronies on overdrive to tame any dissenting voices to its iron fist rule.
White Bar vs Black Bar
This set the stage for a clash between the White Bar and the emergent Black Bar that would last 10 years.
They wanted the government to initiate the process of Africanisation in the profession but lying in opposition to the plan was the then Attorney General, Charles Mugane Njonjo.
His reason for rejecting Africanisation was to protect his power. Mr Muthoga and the other black lawyers would clash with Mr Njonjo on several occasions as they agitated for change.
But even after wrestling the LSK from the hands of the whites and an African in Mr S.N. Waruhiu taking over, matters did not change for the better as he took no interest in fighting for the interests of the African lawyer.
Together with Njonjo, they acted as stumbling blocks but this did not last for long.
All the changes that were happening during the time strengthened the members of the Black Bar and in 1971, one of its members, K.C. Gautamana, became its president.
Two years later, Amos Wako and Muthoga would succeed Mr Gautamana.
Good tidings followed the Black Bar with a fallout between Mr Njonjo and President Daniel Moi marking the beginning of his downfall.
Achilles heel
But the strides made by the Black Bar would also be its Achilles heel.
With the growing influence of the black lawyers came the disintegration of the legal practice in the country.
Moi gave in to most of the demands by the black lawyers but at the same time was planning the death of the LSK altogether.
He led the Kalenjinisation of the society and before long, he had it under his authority.
Attempts at a fightback would only deepen the society’s woes as a purge of dissidents would take over.
Some members of the Black Bar would betray the course speedily losing sight of the group’s ideals and aspirations as greed for money took over among the new class of lawyers.
Honesty, ethics and professionalism were thrown out of the window and instead replaced with greed for making money at any cost with the legal practice becoming nothing more than an economic activity for the new crop of lawyers.
In the early and late 80s, the reputation of lawyers as defenders of the commoner would take a beating.
Divisions soon rocked the once united Black Bar and lawyers became accessories to the derogation of the rule of law, financial corruption, independence of the legal practice became non-existent and appointments to high public offices took root.
The book’s foreword is written by Mr Odinga who aptly captures the crux of the book, quipping that safeguarding the rule of law is one of the areas where Kenya has performed badly.
This has given way to impunity and utter chaos leaving the weak and the poor absolutely at the mercy of the rich and the powerful since independence.
“In many instances, the legal profession acceded to the bad governance and abuse of authority that followed independence…. Lawyers became accessories of the State and the powerful individuals on how to use the law to perpetuate and defend impunity and oppression,” he opines.
The author says the book is available for free download on his website as he wants to add to the body of knowledge in the legal profession.
