- The WJF is an association of Judges, Magistrates and Lawyers drawn from Western Kenya’s five counties of Kakamega, Vihiga, Bungoma, Busia and Trans Nzoia.
- Mudavadi urged WJF to build ethical and sound institutional frameworks that will make it outlive the founders and members.
Image: PCS
Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has urged the Western Jurists Forum (WJF) to stay firm to its mandate and to shun divisive politics.
He said the association provides an opportunity for them to sit together, regardless of political affiliations, unite and reflect on the socio-economic challenges and opportunities as one community.
"Politics should never divide us. We are one community, and shall always remain one," Mudavadi said.
The WJF is an association of Judges, Magistrates and Lawyers drawn from Western Kenya’s five counties of Kakamega, Vihiga, Bungoma, Busia and Trans Nzoia.
He spoke on Saturday during the WJF's annual dinner, where the association also launched its Strategic Plan dubbed 'Consolidating the gains, empowering the base and readying for the future: It is time'.
Mudavadi urged WJF to build ethical and sound institutional frameworks that will make it outlive the founders and members.
"WJF has now assumed a life and momentum of its own. We must build it for posterity and not just for us present here today. It has also established and now operates, the Western Jurists Sacco, (WJS)as the economic mobilization arm," he said.
"You have slowly but consistently focused on selling WJF’s vision and mission to Western lawyers, popularizing the Association and recruiting members. You needed not just to come together, but also, to stay together."
Mudavadi lauded the forum for staying together, against all odds and urged them the reach out to more members to make it grow further.
"Staying together is always the hardest part. I congratulate you for believing in yourselves, and for the courage and stamina to remain focused. Our community needs these virtues a great deal."
He also commended the WJF Community Focus for its consistent CSR projects across all five counties, from Gisambai Primary School in Vihiga to Chetoto Primary in Trans Nzoia and from Busende Primary in Busia to Mahiakalo Primary in Kakamega.
WJF operates Wakili Nyumbani programme, which offers free legal aid to the most needy people in the Western region.
This has, in the long run, huge benefits in educating the people about their basic rights and creating better civic awareness for them.
The Inderema scholarship is yet another WJF programme, which is designed to identify, target and sponsor bright but needy students through their secondary education and is proposed to adopt 25 of them across the five counties and this is commendable.
As part of its contribution to the global and national conversation around climate change, he said WJF will, for the next five years, embark on a massive Tree-Fencing exercise targeting primary and secondary schools in the five Counties.
This is expected to inculcate in the young learners the desire to protect the environment as a lifestyle thereby making them the next generation of environmental torchbearers.
It will also ensure that gradually, schools have tree fences around them securing privacy for the learners as well as increasing tree tree-coverage within the region.
He said plans are also underway to introduce WJF Virtual Learning Hub as part of preparing the youths for the future of work.
This will focus on critical skills training such as AI and Machine Learning Training Renewable Energy Engineers.