Mysterious Banners Rebuking Kenya's Judiciary Crop Up Along Nairobi Roads

Unknown people hanged anti-judiciary banners along major roads leading to Nairobi city center on Tuesday morning.

The banners, written in bold letters, contained different messages castigating the Kenyan judiciary over some of its rulings perceived to be favoring the rich.

The posters were mounted hours after Embakasi East MP Babu Owino was released on a KSh10 million cash bail in a case in which he is accused of shooting Felix Orinda, alias DJ Evolve.

Kenyans online were critical of the magistrate’s decision to direct Owino to pay the bail amount in four installments of KSh2.5 million over the next four months.

“Akashas were free in Kenya for over four years but were jailed in two months by a USA court. We demand a working judiciary free of corrupt judges now,” a banner erected at Nyayo Stadium roundabout read.

Another banner mounted on a footbridge in Pangani stated: “Why is the majority of inmates in Kenya the poor?”

A banner along Ladhies Road, asked: “Will Kidero, Sonko or Waititu ever step in jail for corruption?”

Commenting about the sentencing of Akasha brothers in the US two weeks ago, President Kenyatta said: “I think it is a shame on our country that we prosecuted a case against drug traffickers in our country and we couldn’t get a conviction and, within a year of them being arraigned in the United States, they have been jailed for not less than 25 years. That is something that our judiciary should come to terms with.” 

Ibrahim Akasha was sentenced to 23 years on January 10th, 2020 while his elder brother Baktash was jailed for 25 years in August 2019. The two pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and bribery charges before a New York court in 2018.