Baptism of fire in LSK fight for rule of law

Faith Odhiambo foresaw that her tenure as the 51st president of the Law Society of Kenya would be defined by a strained battle to defend the rule of law.

However, she did not think that her honeymoon in the office would elapse so soon.

Throughout the LSK campaigns, her message to supporters and colleagues remained consistent: that the February 2024 election was about the rule of law.

Even before her election, she emerged as a fierce figure of speaking truth to power, casting herself as what society needed to beat back the tide of impunity.

No sooner had the ink on her victory certificate dried in March than mass discontent on the Finance Bill 2024 and cost of living erupted. Not by design but by sheer commitment to serve and duty to her nation, she quickly became the go-to defender of the downtrodden protesters.

“It has been literally baptism by fire,” she told the Star during the interview.

“We had started out executing the office and the council by doing rounds of courtesy calls to rekindle and renew relationships and partnerships as rolled out in our vision. But boom, the protests came.”

Youth-led protests marked the public disobedience campaign against the Finance Bill 2024, culminating in the mob storming Parliament on June 25.

But it was state response to the civil disobedience that is believed to have aggravated public anger.

Police and other state security agents responded to the largely peaceful demonstrations with brute force.

Multiple human rights agencies, including the state’s own Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, gave varying numbers of those shot dead by police, but the figures were all tending to towards 100 people.

Scores of other bodies with gunshot wounds would later be discovered at City Mortuary, which were booked by police as road accident victims.

And during the entire period of the mass protests, arbitrary arrests as well as abduction of suspected Gen Z ring leaders, protest organisers and social media influencers would be executed both in the dead of the night and in broad daylight from street corners.

DEFENDING PROTESTERS

It is in this chaos that Odhiambo would be required to play a part in not just mobilising her lawyer troops to defend the protesters in court and secure their freedom but also personally take part in the search operations to find those who had been abducted and gone missing.

“My phone numbers became public and it would be buzzing with calls and text messages all day and night,” she said.

“My social media accounts, especially Twitter, was another place for an avalanche of messages from Kenyans who were victims or whose loved ones were arrested, abducted, shot or killed, or who were being trailed and threatened.”

Day and night, distressed Kenyans saw Odhiambo as a beacon of hope. A quick fixer, she activated teams of lawyers not just in the capital Nairobi but also in other counties as the protests were nationwide.

“I’m thankful that lawyers in the country rose to the occasion, and quickly so,” she said.

“They read the room and responded to injustice against unarmed yet targeted citizens, whose only crime was to take to the streets to make their voices heard, carrying their flags, bottles of water and phones.”

There was no much time to sit and plan; it was time for acting out of conviction.

“Lawyers’ response to the protests was a remarkable demonstration of our devotion to the rule of law and practising law as a calling to the nation, humanity and to God,” Odhiambo said.

“Young lawyers, especially, were out, making their contribution to the crusading for rule of law and against impunity.

Odhiambo was among the battery of lawyers who were teargassed out of Central Police station on June 18, when the protests first happened.

They had gone to represent and secure freedom for hundreds of mainly young women who were arrested demonstrating.

“It is this first teargas that triggered our anger to give it our best efforts,” she said.

DECLINED APPOINTMENT

The lawyers’ president says that once police roughed them up, assaulted some of her colleagues and lobbied volleys of teargas canisters at them to rudely disperse them, she quickly knew that the spirited battle for the rule of law that she anticipated and promised during the campaigns had come to reality.

"I got messages from lawyers across the country telling me that if the police could harass their president and use teargas against me, then all of us had been attacked,” she said.

"That is when lawyers left everything they were doing to respond. And boy they did."

Odhiambo said her foremost objective is to fulfil her promise to lawyers that she would be a joyful warrior for the rule of law.

“I stepped up to lead the society out of conviction and not for career progression. I was convinced beyond any measure of doubt that our tenure in office would be about defending the rule of law because that is what equalises us,” she said.

“It is what lawyers want as they practise in courts. It is what teachers want as they engage in their labour bargaining. It is what protects the business environment. It is what the poor depend on

Asked about her takeaways from the protests, she said they have cemented her convictions.

“I have learnt that like never before, there is need to be of firm courage to stand up for the rule of law,” she said.

“Speak truth to power and defend the 2010 Constitution, and do so with integrity, grace and forthrightness.”

At the height of the protests, Odhiambo was nominated by President William Ruto to a task force on auditing public debt. She declined the job and the taskforce never took off.

Asked why, she said it was the decision of the council of the society to decline the appointment because it was irregular and unlawful.

“The Auditor General has express mandate to audit public debt books, and we believed the decision by the President was a window dressing exercise to manage the public anger,” she said.

“We decided as a council that we would not be available for use as a public laundromat in an unconstitutional venture.”

Odhiambo also claimed that she had not been reached out to prior to the public announcement of her appointment into the proposed taskforce.

“No one spoke to me about the concept of the proposed task force, whether to explain the rationale or get mine and the LSK’s views on it,” she said.

“Remember, as a statutory entity, we are required by law to offer legal counsel to the government arms from time to time on matters of public interest.”

MULTIPLE AWARDS

In the few months she has been at the helm of the society, she has become the darling of the public and has won numerous accolades.

The 38-year-old was recently named among the top 40 under 40, with her efforts to coordinate free legal support to protesters being the rallying reason.

Two youth groups, Youth Congress and Creative Spills, also inducted her into what they called the Katiba Roll of Honour during the 14th anniversary celebration of the 2010 Constitution.

The lobbies honoured Odhiambo alongside Gen Z protest organiser Hanifa Adan, former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah and constitutional scholar Yash Pal Ghai.

Humanitarian Kennedy Odede was also honoured.

The group said Odhiambo was among those selected for having “dedicated her life and sacrificed her own safety in championing and protecting the Constitution of Kenya".

The six were awarded for "remarkable efforts in fearlessly pushing us forward, showing us how we can fulfill the aspirations of the Constitution in making Kenya a thriving and prosperous democracy that respects the rule of law".

In fact, so high have her public ratings soared that some quarters have been toying with the idea of pushing her to run for public office, having demonstrated that she was public-spirited and does not seek self aggrandisement.

But she says much work still lies ahead, and she will not be distracted from delivering her objectives within her two years in office.

“We are barely getting started. While championing and paying the price for the rule of law is the plank of my public service, it is not the only thing lawyers expect me to do. We have a broad package to deliver to better the practice of law,” she said.

“In all offices i have occupied, i focus on delivering what i set out to and not falling for cheap distractions. I won’t let a few wins to get into my head and cloud my focus and judgement. There is a time for everything.”