Sisters of Justice

We took a bit of ugali, a maize cake with our right hands, pushing bits of stew and kale into it, enjoying the typical Kenyan food and way of eating. ‘It’s sweeter like this’, Martha had said and I agreed, eating with her and her husband Koome, as we laughed about the day’s events. Kawe, their daughter and I had enjoyed a day’s visit to the Safari Walk, Nairobi’s zoo with raised walkways for viewing rescued animals, glad to be welcomed by her parents Martha and Koome, eating ugali, getting to know one another, and were soon joined by three extended family members. Koome took the younger ones to the front room while Martha, Pamela and I ate and talked.

These warm Kenyan women are each extraordinary, Martha one of 50 High Court Judges and responsible for a district with eight million inhabitants in Kenya’s Rift Valley, and Pamela one of 22 Electoral Commissioners. Pamela had landed in the hot seat, just one month before the December 2007 elections leading to the January political turmoil, upsetting Kenya’s previous peaceful image. They explained that the chaos, although on the surface tribally based, went beyond tribal issues, and came down to land rights. Members of the majority tribe, the Kikuyus, had moved from the central province to buy farmland in the Rift Valley, living peacefully until seemingly orchestrated unrest erupted in January. We were unable to resolve the tangled issues over our ugali, and we soon got to the fundamental issues of land rights. ‘We won’t have equality for women until we get land rights sorted’, Martha pointed out. ‘We have a tangled mess. Every five years there’s a Land Commission that makes an enquiry, then it’s put on a shelf and collects dust until the next one comes along. We need to take those enquiries off the shelf and get down to it.’

She gave an example of how a recent case pointed out injustice to women. A father decided to dispossess his two daughters, giving land to the sons. The two women took their father to court, and Marttha dispensed justice by looking at old legislation going back to colonial days: ‘Anyone living and using land is the owner as long as they are using the land’. She pointed out that the daughters had been living and using the land until the father decided to throw them off, an illegal act. ‘These women had taken their father to court, how many others do not have the capacity to do that?’ she stated. Both Martha and Pamela agreed that women, who often do the bulk of the work tilling crops, often get a raw deal when it comes to inheritance. Furthermore, land ownership disputes often stop Kenyan development, old issues left unresolved that stop progress.
I had previously asked if there were any way that Advocates for International Development, a UK not-for-profit offering pro bono legal work could be of service. They heartily agreed that land rights were a prime area to start with. Also, the Minister of Justice’s recently launched Legal Aid scheme could benefit from partnering with local chambers to build capacity through guidelines and sharing information, developing materials to help people understand their rights, simplifying procedures. As Martha said, ‘That would help judges a great deal, people could arrive in court with full knowledge of their rights and seeking protection. When they have a clear idea of their rights, it makes it much easier for us.’ She explained how the partnership between the Rift Valley and Newcastle Law Societies had established a secretariat for children in need of legal assistance. The Rift Valley Law Society developed the programme to assist under 18 year olds, many vulnerable due to the HIV-AIDs pandemic. The result is access and improved quality of justice through the pro bono work of 250 Rift Valley Law Society members, the training organised by Newcastle Law Society and exchange visits between Rift Valley and Newcastle lawyers, staying in each others’ homes and sharing expertise.

We agreed to find ways to put A4ID and the Kenya’s Justice Department together by my meeting the Minister of Justice, another powerful woman and a next door neighbour. The ugali, stew and kale finished, we sisters of justice cleansed our hands, content with sharing our meal and connections to improve women’s and ultimately everyone’s rights through land rights.