’…Prof. Lumumba tells lawyers
By: G Bennie Bravo Johnson I Kenyan lawyer and Pan-Africanism activist Prof. Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba says African constitutionals are invaluably under assault by different powers who want to change them in their quest to have Africa democratized, whatever democratized means to them.
Speaking Wednesday, May 8, 2024, the African Regional Group Meeting and International Conference of the International Association of Judges, held under the Theme“The Judiciary in Contemporary Times: Dispensing Justice in the New Information Age,” at the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ministerial Complex in Congo Town,
The reputable African lawyer spoke on a specific theme: Building integrity through positive action; a means of ensuring an independent judiciary’’ stating that achieving judicial independence is not merely a matter of institutional design.
‘’African constitutionals are invaluably under assault by different powers who want to change them in the quest to have Africa democratized, whatever democratized means. After the 1900s, there was this breed of new constitutional dispensation when the Western World convinced many African Countries that democracy was equal too, having a free press and, free civil society, which led to the ament of their constitution’’ Prof. Lumumba noted.
The National Association of Trial Judges of Liberia is hosting the African Regional Group Conference and the International Conference of the International Association of Judges (IAJ).
Hosted under the theme: “The Judiciary in Contemporary Times Dispensing Justice in the New Information Age,” the conference is expected to climax on Thursday, 10 May 2024.
Several legal personalities and officials attended the program, including Vice President Jeremiah K. Koung, Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh, the Supreme Court Bench, Ghana’s Chief Justice, the president and members of the Liberian National Bar Association, Liberia Female Lawyers, and the Diplomatic Community.
Meanwhile, at the end of the first session of the conference, Prof. Lumumba wore a gown with Liberian-made traditional handmade clothes for his service and advocacy and for honoring their invitation.
Prof. Lumumba is a notable Pan-Africanist and has delivered several speeches alluding to or about African solutions to African problems.
He is an admirer of Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, and of Patrice Lumumba and Thomas Sankara, the assassinated revolutionary leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burkina Faso, respectively.
The great Kenya scholar Lumumba has referred to and quoted them several times in his speeches. Lumumba is also remembered for his emotion-laden and energetic speech in Uganda at the third Anti-Corruption Convention.
According to him, Africa doesn’t have a constitution of its own that will reflect the culture and tradition of its continent and people, therefore, western power defines and tells Africa what the constitution is and what it entails, something he said has placed the continent in crisis.
He disclosed that before nineteen hundred and eight nine, Africa had a constitution which marrow different African traditions and culture that the people could see themselves in.
But, after the colonial rule in Africa, the African continent was again forced to formulate a constitution that was demanded by the Western Power.
He further indicated that when those amendments were taking place, some of the things that were then talked about was the independence of the Judiciary, adding that judiciary independence should start with government funding.
According to him, if the judiciary is funded by internationals like the USAID, and World Bank, among others, it places the judiciary in a place where they have to work according to the pleasure of that institution, something he described as dangerous.
