Kenya is grappling with a severe national ethics crisis marked by plummeting public trust in state institutions, the country’s top judicial official warned Monday.
Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Winfridah Mokaya told High Court judges and justice-sector partners that perceptions of unethical conduct have soared from 57% to 67% in just one year, according to the 2024 National Ethics and Corruption Survey.
“We must acknowledge the reality of a national ethical crisis,” Mokaya said at the opening of the High Court’s annual human rights summit in Nairobi.
Judiciary itself under fire
The findings are especially stark for the courts: 56% of Kenyans now believe the judiciary is corrupt, while 20% say they have personally been asked for a bribe by judicial staff.
“These figures should alarm all of us,” Mokaya said. “Our constitution dedicates an entire chapter to ethics and integrity — that was the people of Kenya demanding that public service be defined by accountability and moral clarity.”
Summit forces judges to confront shortcomings
This year’s gathering, themed “Upholding Human Dignity: Ethical Leadership as a Pillar of Constitutionalism,” was deliberately designed to push judges into self-examination.
“By choosing this theme, the High Court has chosen honesty over comfort and introspection over self-preservation,” Mokaya said.
She pointed to recent progress — tougher rulings on asset recovery and economic crimes, faster and more transparent bail refunds, and regular payroll audits — declaring the judiciary “determined to remain a corruption-free zone.”
Still, she urged judges to hold themselves to a higher standard than other institutions.
“Our benchmark cannot be the conduct of others,” she said. “Our calling demands greater discipline and greater accountability.”
Broader warning from rights group
Christine Alai, chairperson of the Kenyan chapter of the International Commission of Jurists, told the summit that courts across Africa often stand as both the people’s last hope and the first target when power turns authoritarian.
“Courts remain both the last refuge of the people and the first casualty of authoritarian drift,” Alai said, calling on judges to safeguard human rights against any abuse of power.
The two-day summit continues Tuesday with closed sessions expected to produce concrete proposals for restoring public confidence.
For many Kenyans weary of repeated corruption scandals across government branches, Mokaya’s blunt language marked a rare moment of institutional candor in a country that has long struggled to live up to the promises of its 2010 constitution.
Whether the judiciary’s public soul-searching leads to lasting reform remains an open question in East Africa’s largest economy.
