Kenya’s top judge has fired back at her critics over allegations of corruption and incompetence within the judiciary.
“In all these 22 years I’ve been a judge and a chief justice, nobody has ever approached me with a bribe. I would have them arrested,” Martha Koome told the BBC.
Kenya’s first female chief justice has come under intense public backlash in recent times over accusations she has failed to adequately investigate and address bribery and corruption within the judiciary.
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The term “jurispesa,” a blend of “jurisprudence” and the Swahili word for money, “pesa,” has been coined by some Kenyans to suggest pervasive corruption in the judicial system.
But, she defended herself and her colleagues against corruption allegations, urging accusers to present evidence to security agencies or the judicial oversight commission.
She told the BBC Africa Daily podcast that the claims were “supposed to lower my credibility. It is supposed to distract me. I know who I am and I know what I have done and what I am going to do.”
She affirmed her commitment to impartiality amid ongoing corruption allegations against the judiciary.
Addressing the long-standing issue, she told the BBC in 2021 that corruption was “a national embarrassment in and out of the judiciary.”
She attributed some of the criticism she faced to misogyny and chauvinism. She noted that one of the bright spots in her career is her dedication to combating violence against women.
She said it was “completely disheartening” that “every other day there is a report of a young woman who has lost her life through violence”.
Justice Koome lamented about the stagnation of numerous rape cases due to a lack of witnesses, amid a recent surge in violence against women.
Police reported nearly 100 women and girls killed in the past three months. According to the Africa Data Hub, over 500 women in Kenya have been victims of femicide between 2016 and 2024.
Justice Koome expressed her dedication to addressing gender-based violence by improving access to justice for women nationwide.
She announced plans to open 11 courts specializing in sexual and gender-based crimes, with two already established in the western counties of Kisumu and Siaya.
“We have a lot of hope in them because cases of gender-based violence must be given priority. So that the victim who was violated does not keep coming to court, year in year out,” she said.
