When Lawyers Shut Up: The Law Society of Kenya’s Silence during the Colonial Era
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This paper explores moments when the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) remained silent in the face of excesses of the colonial administration. The LSK is an important agent in restraining the Kenyan state from violations against the rule of law. Yet since its emergence in the 1920s as a premier lawyers’ organisation, this has not always been the case. The organisation has had episodes of silence in the face of state violation of the rule of law. The paper conceptualizes the rule of law as implying checks and balances, existence of rules which apply to everyone and respect for due process, and silence as constituting LSK actions which were inadequate in countering given state excesses. It uses entanglement, sourced from the poststructuralist intellectual tradition, along with related concepts of ambivalence and hybridity as well as conviviality, as the conceptual framework to explain LSK’s silence in the face of colonial government excesses. Further, the paper employs the ex post facto research design and uses available archival accounts as sources of primary data and books and journals for secondary data to establish what constituted the most egregious violations of the rule of law under colonial rule. It also identifies LSK’s reaction to the violations, whether this was through pronouncements, actions or non-action. The paper also examines the dynamics which informed the organisation’s reaction. It concludes by elaborating on the organisation’s character as a result of the silence, challenging assumptions that it was a consistent defender of the rule of law in Kenya across time.
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Elkins, C. (2005) Britain’s Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya, London: Jonathan Cape, pp.345-35.
Gathii, J.T. (2011) ‘Kenya’s Long Anti-Corruption Agenda: 1952-2010: Prospects and Challenges of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Under the 2010 Constitution,’ 4 Law & Development Review, 182, pp. 435- 449.
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Gimode, E.A. (2007) ‘The Role of the Police in Kenya’s Democratisation Process,’ in Godwin R. Murunga and Shadrack Wanjala Nasong’o, Kenya, the Struggle for Democracy, Dakar: CODESRIA, pp. 233 – 239.
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Mbai, C.O. (2003) Public Service Accountability and Governance in Kenya since Independence, Nairobi, African Association of Political Science, p. 131.
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Mbembe. A., (2001), ‘Ways of Seeing Beyond the New Nativism. An Introduction.’ African Studies Review Vol. 44, No. 2: 1-14
Mbembe. A., (2015) ‘The Value of Africa’s Aesthetics.’ Mail & Guardian. Mail & Guardian, 15 May.
Morris, H.F. (1970) ‘Some Perspectives of East African Legal History,’ Crime in East Africa:3, Uppsala, The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
Ndege, P. (2020), ‘How colonial legacy made KMC bite off more than it could chew,’ Daily Nation, September 12.
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Odinga, R. & Elderkin, S. (2015) Raila Odinga: The Flame of Freedom, Nairobi: Mountain Top Publishers Ltd, pp. 49-50.
Ogot, B.A. (2000) ‘Boundary changes and the invention of “tribes,”’ in Bethwel A. Ogot and W.R. Ochieng’ (eds), Kenya - The Making of a Nation: A Hundred Years of Kenya’s History, 1895-1995, Maseno: IRPS, pp. 22-23.
Ogot, B.A. (2000) ‘The Settler Dream of White Dominion,’ in Bethwel A. Ogot and W.R. Ochieng’ (eds), Kenya - The Making of a Nation: A Hundred Years of Kenya’s History, 1895-1995, Maseno: IRPS, pp. 65.
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Okoth, A. (2006) A History of Africa: African Nationalism and the Decolonisation Process, Nairobi, East African Educational Publishers.
Omeje, K., (2015) ‘Debating Postcoloniality in Africa.’ The Crises of Postcoloniality in Africa, Dakar: CODESRIA, pp. 1 – 28
Osha, S., (2000) ‘Theorizing the Postcolony or the Force of the Commandment: Meditations on Achille Mbembe’s “On the Post colony”.’ Quest, XIV, no. 1-2
Owiti, O., and Mbaya, W. (1997) ‘Public Order and Preservation of Public Security Law in Kenya,’ in Smoking Wanjala and Kivutha Kibwana (eds), Democratization and Law Reform in Kenya, Claripress Limited, pp.55-56.
Ralphs. G., (2007) ‘The Contribution of Achille Mbembe to the Multi-disciplinary Study of Africa.’ Postamble 3, no. 2.
Zeleza, T. (1989) ‘The Establishment of Colonial Rule, 1905 – 1920,’ in W.R. Ochieng, (ed), A Modern History of Kenya, Nairobi, Evans Brothers Kenya Limited, pp. 35-62.
(2010) ‘Mau Mau lawyer, C.M.G. Argwings-Kodhek,’ in Government of Kenya, Kenya Yearbook 2010 http://cabinets.kenyayearbook.co.ke/church-influence-before-independence/; accessed on 06/07/2020 at 2045 hours.
Atieno-Odhiambo, E.S. (2000) ‘Mugo’s Prophecy,’ in Bethwel A. Ogot and W.R. Ochieng’ (eds), Kenya - The Making of a Nation: A Hundred Years of Kenya’s History, 1895-1995, Maseno: IRPS, pp.7-8.
Awori, M. (2017) Riding a Tiger: An Autobiography, Nairobi: Moran Publishers, pp. 275 – 284; also pp. 306- 324.
Chitere, P. (et al) (2006) ‘Kenya Constitutional Documents: A Comparative Analysis,’ IPAR Working Paper No. 7, Bergen: CHR Michelsen Institute, pp. 12-13.
Cockar, A.M. (2012) Doings, Non-Doings and Mis-Doings by Kenya Chief Justices: 1963-1998, Nairobi: Zand Graphics Limited, p.107.
Cox, N. & Ojienda, T.O. (2010) The Enforcement of Professional Ethics and Standards in the Kenyan Legal Profession, Nairobi: The World Bank and The Law Society of Kenya, pp. 84-86.
Elkins, C. (2005) Britain’s Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya, London: Jonathan Cape, pp.345-35.
Gathii, J.T. (2011) ‘Kenya’s Long Anti-Corruption Agenda: 1952-2010: Prospects and Challenges of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Under the 2010 Constitution,’ 4 Law & Development Review, 182, pp. 435- 449.
Ghai, Y.P., and McAuslan P. (1975), ‘Public Law and Political Change in Kenya’ in W.B. Harvey, An Introduction to the Legal System in East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya Literature Bureau, pp. 84-95.
Gikandi, S., (2004), ‘Poststructuralism and Postcolonial Discourse.’ In N. Lazarus, Introducing Postcolonial Studies, Cambridge University Press, pp. 97-119
Gimode, E.A. (2007) ‘The Role of the Police in Kenya’s Democratisation Process,’ in Godwin R. Murunga and Shadrack Wanjala Nasong’o, Kenya, the Struggle for Democracy, Dakar: CODESRIA, pp. 233 – 239.
Harrington, J., and Manji, A. (2015) ‘Restoring Leviathan? The Kenyan Supreme Court, constitutional transformation, and the presidential election of 2013,’ Journal of Eastern African Studies, 9:2, 175-192, DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2015.1029296.
Harvey, W.B. (1975) An Introduction to the Legal System in East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya Literature Bureau, pp. 210 - 214, pp. 61-65.
(1975) ‘The Rule of Law in Historical Perspective,’ in W.B. Harvey, An Introduction to the Legal System in East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya Literature Bureau, pp. 210 – 214.
Hoagland, G., (2009) ‘The Thing Itself: Quantifying Violence in Subjective Excess,’ Crossroads, Special issue – 2008, Rhizomes Conference, Vol. III, Issue II, pp. 51 – 57
Jackson (1975) ‘The Law Society of Kenya’, in William Burnett Harvey, An Introduction to the Legal System in East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya Literature Bureau, p. 107.
Joireman, S.F. (2006) ‘The Evolution of the Common Law: Legal Development in Kenya and India,’ Political Science Faculty Publications, Paper 68, Richmond School of Arts and Sciences, p 16.
Kanogo, T. (1989) ‘Kenya and the Depression, 1929 – 1939,’ in W.R. Ochieng, (ed), A Modern History of Kenya, Nairobi, Evans Brothers Kenya Limited, p.129.
Karume, N., and Gethoi (2009) M., Beyond Expectations: From Charcoal to Gold, Nairobi: Kenway Publications, pp. xviii-xx.
KNA/AP/1/903 (b), Folio 38/42/14/1, Correspondence from Sir Robert Hamilton, Secretary of the Nairobi Law Society to the Chief Justice, 03/05/1919.
KNA/AP/1/903, (b), Correspondence between the Secretary of the Nairobi Law Society and Acting Chief Justice, T.D. Maxwell, over time provided for responding to court summons, 12/04/1920.
KNA/PC/NZA 3/17/1, Folio 13, Correspondence between the Chief Native Commission G.V. Maxwell and the Colonial Secretary through the Attorney General on matters touching the law and how it is applied to Africans, 26/11/1927.
KNA/AP/1/903 (b), Folio 1/52/10/29, Correspondence from the Law Society of the Colony of Kenya Secretary Edward Barret to the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Kenya, regarding access to legal aid for poor defendants, 05/03/1936.
Lonsdale, J. (1989) ‘The Conquest State: 1895-1904,’ in W.R. Ochieng,’ (ed.), A Modern History of Kenya: 1895-1980, London, Nairobi, Ibadan: Evans Brothers (Kenya) Limited, pp. 6.
Magaga, G.O. (2000) ‘The African Dream:1920-1963,’ in Bethwel A. Ogot and W.R. Ochieng’ (eds), Kenya - The Making of a Nation: A Hundred Years of Kenya’s History, 1895-1995, Maseno: IRPS, pp.79-80.
Mbai, C.O. (2003) Public Service Accountability and Governance in Kenya since Independence, Nairobi, African Association of Political Science, p. 131.
Mbembe, A. (2001) On the Postcolony. London, Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Mbembe. A., (2001), ‘Ways of Seeing Beyond the New Nativism. An Introduction.’ African Studies Review Vol. 44, No. 2: 1-14
Mbembe. A., (2015) ‘The Value of Africa’s Aesthetics.’ Mail & Guardian. Mail & Guardian, 15 May.
Morris, H.F. (1970) ‘Some Perspectives of East African Legal History,’ Crime in East Africa:3, Uppsala, The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.
Ndege, P. (2020), ‘How colonial legacy made KMC bite off more than it could chew,’ Daily Nation, September 12.
Ndzovu, H.J. (2014) Muslims in Kenyan Politics: Political Involvement, Marginalization, and Minority Status, Illinois: Northwestern University Press Evanston, pp.17-21.
Odinga, O. (1967) Not Yet Uhuru, Nairobi: EAEP, p. 128.
Odinga, R. & Elderkin, S. (2015) Raila Odinga: The Flame of Freedom, Nairobi: Mountain Top Publishers Ltd, pp. 49-50.
Ogot, B.A. (2000) ‘Boundary changes and the invention of “tribes,”’ in Bethwel A. Ogot and W.R. Ochieng’ (eds), Kenya - The Making of a Nation: A Hundred Years of Kenya’s History, 1895-1995, Maseno: IRPS, pp. 22-23.
Ogot, B.A. (2000) ‘The Settler Dream of White Dominion,’ in Bethwel A. Ogot and W.R. Ochieng’ (eds), Kenya - The Making of a Nation: A Hundred Years of Kenya’s History, 1895-1995, Maseno: IRPS, pp. 65.
Ojwang’, J.B. (2000) ‘Government and Constitutional Development in Kenya, 1895-1995, in Bethwel A. Ogot and W.R. Ochieng’ (eds), Kenya - The Making of a Nation: A Hundred Years of Kenya’s History, 1895-1995, Maseno: IRPS, p.152-154.
Okoth, A. (2006) A History of Africa: African Nationalism and the Decolonisation Process, Nairobi, East African Educational Publishers.
Omeje, K., (2015) ‘Debating Postcoloniality in Africa.’ The Crises of Postcoloniality in Africa, Dakar: CODESRIA, pp. 1 – 28
Osha, S., (2000) ‘Theorizing the Postcolony or the Force of the Commandment: Meditations on Achille Mbembe’s “On the Post colony”.’ Quest, XIV, no. 1-2
Owiti, O., and Mbaya, W. (1997) ‘Public Order and Preservation of Public Security Law in Kenya,’ in Smoking Wanjala and Kivutha Kibwana (eds), Democratization and Law Reform in Kenya, Claripress Limited, pp.55-56.
Ralphs. G., (2007) ‘The Contribution of Achille Mbembe to the Multi-disciplinary Study of Africa.’ Postamble 3, no. 2.
Zeleza, T. (1989) ‘The Establishment of Colonial Rule, 1905 – 1920,’ in W.R. Ochieng, (ed), A Modern History of Kenya, Nairobi, Evans Brothers Kenya Limited, pp. 35-62.
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2024-05-18
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