The Vice Chairperson of the Kenya Women Judges Association (KWJA) Lady Justice Kalpana Rawal says the Judiciary is the most important component of a democracy. “Each element of society comes before us. _ ere’s no element of society we don’t deal with,” she says. “If anything goes wrong everybody blames us. It’s difficult.”

She says being a judge is not easy – and this does not only apply to lady judges. “I don’t believe because I’m a woman that it is easier or harder,” he says. “_ e Judiciary has direct interaction with the public and we can’t please everyone. In the search for justice, one will win and one will lose. _ e loser will hardly like you,” she says.

“We have our limitations in law. We can’t call a press conference like any other person.” She says women are good judicial officers because they have a sixth sense. “And they’re more sincere and less prone to corruption.”

Responding to the allegation that women judicial officers delay the administration of justice, she says she has never delayed a ruling or judgment.

When she was the presiding judge at the Criminal Division, she says she cleared a backlog and cleared all murder trials by the time she left in 2006.

When she moved to the Family Division, she says she found many pending matters from as far back as the 1970s and ‘80s, mainly divorce and adoption. “Within a year I finalised 3,500 cases,” she says.

She notes that each case she handles is a landmark one. Lady Justice Rawal says the challenges of the job are many.

One has to be on her toes and deal with new matters all the time. “Each new case is a new challenge,” she says, adding that the officers have to interpret the law all the time in relation to each case.

She would like to see a totally independent Judiciary, especially in matters _ nancial She says Kenya’s Judiciary must be the worst equipped world. She cites lack of facilities and the fact that she has towrite judgments in long hand as one of the biggest fetters to the administration of justice.

Lady Justice Rawal comes from a legal family. Her grandfather was a lawyer and her father was a judge. She wanted to emulate them and studied law. “But as a lawyer I just wanted to do my work honestly. I like to do justice to the best of my ability and according to the law,” she says confidently.

Lady Justice Rawal started her career in law by teaching Administration and Police offficers at Lower Kabete in 1975. She has 28 years experience in practice as an advocate, three of which she spent as an advocate of the High Court of India and the rest in Kenya. She holds Bachelor of Arts degree, Bachelor and Master of Laws in constitutional and administrative law. In the year 1975 she became the first lady lawyer to establish private practice in Kenya. Prior to her appointment as a Commissioner of Assize in July 1999, she was a practitioner in criminal law, family law, commercial law and conveyancing.

She says she wants to see more meritorious women judges in the Judiciary. She says for one to be a judge, she must be capable, with due qualifications.

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