CJ Koome on the importance of empowering Kenyans to be agents of justice
Chief Justice Martha Koome talked about the importance of empowering Kenyans to become agents of justice to resolve disputes, therefore ensuring fewer disputes in the courts during the regional Hearth Summit 2024.
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00:00Hey, what's up, people? My name is Kalendu Musimikama Kaida and you see me, it's an exclusive interview about to go down and I'm honored to sit next to Madam CJ Mathakome. Hi, how are you doing?
00:13Hi, thank you very much. Nice to sit next to you too.
00:17Thank you so much. For me, it's an honor to be honest.
00:21Wow. We've had a wonderful day today.
00:25Yes. We are here at the Heart Summit Nairobi and we are speaking all about well-being. What does well-being mean to you?
00:35It means everything because unless you're well, then you are not able to perform and you are not able to take care of yourself and you are not able to deliver and you are not able to help other people.
00:54Yes.
00:55So the first point of call is wellness.
00:59Yes.
01:00Yes. Both mental, physical and spiritual.
01:04Yes. And we've learned so much today. What are some of the things you've learned through the sessions today?
01:11We have been challenged.
01:14Yes.
01:15First of all, to take care of ourselves.
01:18Yes.
01:19To have a program where you integrate wellness.
01:26Yes.
01:27And how you relate with the other people.
01:32Yes.
01:33And how you create an enabling environment that enables everybody to be happy, to have peace, to thrive and realize their potential.
01:49Yes.
01:50That's about wellness at places of work, at our homes and at our community level.
02:01Yes.
02:02And this is a whole ecosystem that includes the people we work with, family and also the environment.
02:12Yes.
02:13Yes.
02:15Every day you're dealing with different things. So how do you personally take care of yourself?
02:21That's a personal effort.
02:26Yes.
02:27To ensure that I remain connected with myself, that I don't lose myself.
02:40Yes.
02:41So that means connection with my maker.
02:46Yes.
02:47All right? I know I'm here for a purpose.
02:51Yes.
02:52And it's to ask myself, am I living to that purpose that my maker intended?
03:01He has given me a huge responsibility of being the Chief Justice.
03:06Yes.
03:07Am I doing what I'm supposed to do as the Chief Justice to earn my keep for the day?
03:16Yes.
03:17Have I delivered to the people of Kenya according to the mandate that I was given?
03:23Yes.
03:24So first of all is an introspection of whether I have done my day's job.
03:32Yes.
03:33And then I have also to be at peace with everything around me, everybody around me.
03:44Yes.
03:45Because they contribute to my well-being.
03:49Yes.
03:50My family, my husband, my children, my house manager, my driver.
03:58Yes.
03:59And my secretary and everybody working around me.
04:02Yes.
04:03We have to be in sync.
04:04Yes.
04:05We have to be in harmony.
04:06Yes.
04:07First of all, by communicating very clearly what it is that we are here for.
04:14Yes.
04:15In the office, we know what we are there for every day to ensure that Kenyans can access justice.
04:24Yes.
04:25And they can access justice expenditiously.
04:30And what can we do to make sure that we also empower the Kenyans to become agents of justice.
04:38Yes.
04:39To become champions of justice.
04:42To resolve many of these disputes.
04:45Yes.
04:46By themselves without having to come to court.
04:49Yes.
04:50Because they all have agents.
04:52Yes.
04:53To know how the problems came about.
04:57The problems they bring to court, the disputes they bring to court.
05:01Therefore, if they are empowered to know their rights, to know how to claim their rights,
05:06to know how to resolve their disputes, then we have less disputes in the courts.
05:12And then we are not so overwhelmed.
05:15You know, it's not good to work always under pressure.
05:18Yes.
05:19And then also to teach Kenyans what we call judicial hygiene.
05:24You know, like the health one.
05:28You know, where you stay away from conflict.
05:33Yes.
05:34You know, so that you are not in conflict with the law.
05:38Yes.
05:39Yes.
05:40Absolutely.
05:41Yes.
05:42And for me, what brings me inner peace, I think, and you've mentioned pressure.
05:47Yes.
05:48You know, just removes all the pressure is listening to music.
05:50I listen to a lot of music and it just kind of eases me.
05:53Yes.
05:54What brings you inner peace?
05:56Of course, music is healing to everybody.
05:59Yes.
06:00But I'm not good at music.
06:03My husband is.
06:04Yes.
06:05He sings for me in the morning.
06:07But for me, I also have to have a way of creating my own inner peace.
06:12Yes.
06:13I do a lot of meditation and I have very many meditation ways of releasing tension.
06:21I do yoga.
06:23Yes.
06:24It's very important.
06:25Yes, I do yoga.
06:27I pray.
06:29I, you know, love children a lot.
06:34And in a moment of tension, if there are children around me, all that tension goes away.
06:41Yes.
06:42Just the presence of children calms me down.
06:45Yes.
06:46So I like to be surrounded by children because their innocence just carries me away.
06:52Yes.
06:53So there are many ways of me releasing tension.
06:57So you find me visiting children's homes or even encouraging them to come and visit me.
07:04Yes.
07:05I love that.
07:06Yes.
07:07Yes.
07:08Absolutely.
07:09And it's been an absolute amazing day.
07:10We have learned a lot.
07:11We've had fun.
07:12Yes.
07:13We've enjoyed.
07:14We've listened.
07:15Yes.
07:16And learned as well.
07:17And tomorrow is, you know, another day to also learn more as well.
07:20As we wind up, how important is such a summit to us?
07:24This summit should be deprecated in every organization where you are dealing with the
07:35people who need to decompress because we take in a lot in terms of pressure.
07:46If I may talk about the judiciary, you know we deal with very complicated matters.
07:54Some of them very nasty.
07:56We deal with victims who have been violated.
08:00We deal with murder cases.
08:02We deal with rapes.
08:03We deal with even very complex family matters that have brought a lot of tensions within families.
08:12So we carry a lot of stress at the end of the day.
08:16And the colonial system of law that we inherited did not factor in a process of debriefing.
08:30Even after you have had a difficult matter or matters, there are usually many,
08:36in a day you could go between the murder, the rape, the defilement and the complex commercial matters as well.
08:45And you are there just by yourself as a judge, let's say in the counties, dealing with everything.
08:54And you are probably even alone.
08:56You don't even have a colleague to share with your daily experience.
09:01So what I have seen from this Earth Summit is that we can try to break it down and get it done as a way of debriefing in every court station and in every unit.
09:18We get our Kenya Judiciary Academy to get it running for us in our courts.
09:29Absolutely amazing. And thank you so much for coming through for us in this interview.
09:34We really do appreciate you.
09:36Yes, thank you very much for having me.
09:38All right. Thank you so much, guys. My name is Kalundu Mwosimi. Bye.
09:48For more information visit www.fema.gov