There are conflicting reports as to whether Mr Ahmednasir Abdullahi, Esq has opted not to contest the impending Law Society
of Kenya (LSK) elections for Nomination as a member of the Judicial Service
Commission (JSC) or not. I consider him unfit to serve in the JSC for a number of reasons. On 18th July 2011, I
appeared before the JSC for public vetting and interview for the position of
Judge of the High Court of Kenya. I did not succeed but that is beside the
point.
Whereas the interview
was supposed to elicit vital information to assist the Judicial Service
Commission to determine the suitability of my candidate for the job, I was
subjected to all manner of appalling questions by Mr. Ahmednasir Abdullahi. I
have no personal grudge with Mr. Abdullahi who was in fact my lecturer at the
University of Nairobi in the 1990s but I consider the questions, suppositions
and innuendos he subjected me to as discriminatory as well as impractical and
outrageous. They were laced with ethnic undertones and intended to project me
and members of the Central Kenya communities in bad light. He claimed that my
employer was saturated with a large numbers of senior managers from Central
Kenya and he suggested that I should have picketed or organized demonstrations
to oppose the perceived regional imbalance of employees in the public service. What
he did not know is that the proportion of staff from Central Kenya in that
organization has always been marginally below 20%. He also claimed that I was
jingoistic and highly pro-government in my publications. Knowing very well that
I was a Government employee, it was fallacious for Mr Abdullahi to expect me to
be anti-government. He was simply trying to extol anarchy in preference for
orderliness, oblivious of the consequences suffered by many African countries
for taking this unconventional path. Mr Abdullahi was trying to criminalize
loyalty to the government. Indeed if I was considered jingoistic for being
patriotic, then Mr. Ahmednasir is a hypocritical jingoist, defiant during the
day and compliant under cover of darkness. After all he has served his full term
at the JSC and at no time did he voice any public dissent even when the JSC
hired some Judges who were later found unsuitable to serve as judges by the
Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board.
During the public
vetting of my candidature for the office of Judge of the High Court, Mr., Ahmednasir
resorted to asking all manner of questions including those devoid of any relationship
to the office I was seeking. He subjected me to generalized questions relating
to perceived historical injustices and regional imbalances in Kenya Revenue
Authority and the wider public service just because I was born in Central Kenya!
He did not care whether I had any role to play in such matters and he never
paid any due consideration to my own personal circumstances. I considered and
still consider his manner of questioning and the aspersions he was casting as
discrimination on ethnic grounds. His questions relating to apparent weaknesses
of my employer were calculated to irritate me as a candidate. He never bothered
to consider my ability or otherwise to influence policy decisions in the organization.
At some stage he became extremely personal and asked questions calculated to harass,
demean and intimidate me. It was hard to tell whether his questions were
intended to test my ability to handle pressure or were aimed at eliciting
emotional responses. Fortunately I was able to remain calm during the entire
exercise and I rebuffed Mr. Abdullahi’s attempts to draw me into a combative
posture or engage in a public brawl. My interview was widely covered by the
media owing to the kind of imbalanced questioning I was subjected to and I have
a feeling it will affect my prospects for promotion and other appointments in
the public service.
Many other people have
voiced concern over his conduct and suitability as a member of the JSC. It must
have become obvious to Mr. Ahmednasir Abdullahi that most of the members of the
LSK are no longer supportive of his membership in the JSC. It is therefore in
order for him to withdraw his candidature to allow the members of the LSK to
elect another person as their nominee in the JSC. LSK requires a balanced and
neutral person as a representative in the Commission.
Twitter: @DeCaptainCFE
