CHIEF JUSTICE MARTHA KOOME ANSWERS IF SHE HATES MEN

Chief Justice nominee Martha Koome has denied claims that she is against men.

Responding to questions from Ruaraka MP TJ Kajwang’ and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed, the former Fida chairperson said she is not ‘anti-men’ and is a staunch supporter of the family institution.

“There is talk and rumours that you are a feminist and you hate men please clarify..,” said Junet.

In her response, Koome denied the allegations saying all her judgements have been guided by strict adherence to the Constitution and rule of law.

“I do not hate men, as a matter of fact I am married and i have been married for 35 years,” Koome said.

“I support families and all my life I have worked for families.”

During her interview for the CJ position, Koome had expressed her concerns on the country laws in relation to gender which she said have been socialised to look at women as second class citizens who are not supposed to take part in leadership positions.

Justice Koome said she subscribes to feminist legal theories which say that the law corresponds with structures of patriarchal dominance and oppression.

“I subscribe to that 100 per cent. The legal structure is dominated by patriarchy because our society is patriarchal. Laws are made in parliament and the dominant majority in parliament is male so it’s informed by their background and socialization,” Koome said.

“We have come a long way especially with the Constitution that outlaws discrimination. The old Constitution out rightly discriminated against women as it did not allow citizenship and allowed customary law,” she said.

She held the view that the Constitution has now been remedied through provisions of gender equity.

She gave an example of a case where a woman won a discrimination suit against a hotel that turned her away for not being accompanied by a man.

On the issue of matrimonial property, Judge Koome believes that one is not entitled to property at the point of entry into marriage.

However, she says that if the spouse contributed to the development of existing property then he or she acquires occupational rights.

On the issue of mandatory death sentence, Judge Koome said doing away with mandatory aspects of it helped justice.

Meanwhile, during her vetting, Koome recommended legislative intervention to help resolve the stalemate among the three arms of the government.

Koome said there is need to have harmony between the Judiciary, Legislature and Executive.

She however noted that the current set up does not offer a middle ground to bring the arms together in case of conflict.

Appearing before the vetting panel -Justice and Legal Affairs Committee – the Court of Appeal judge told MPs to consider coming up with a Bill to create an arbitration body.

By The Star Kenya