The image of a former chief justice being bundled into a police van on a Nairobi street is not one the Kenyan government wanted broadcast. But it happened. Willy Mutunga, the retired head of Kenya’s supreme court, was among dozens arrested during a protest against controversial construction inside Karura Forest, a protected national park. The arrest raises uncomfortable questions about the state of judicial independence and the rule of law in a country already on edge after months of political turbulence.
Sources confirm the demonstration was organised by environmental activists opposing a government-backed plan to build a road and housing project within the forest. Mutunga, a prominent voice for civil liberties, was photographed in handcuffs and later released without charge. But the optics are damning. A man who once embodied the highest standards of judicial integrity now treated as a common criminal for exercising his right to protest.
The government insists the project is legal, part of a broader infrastructure plan. But leaked documents obtained by this newsroom suggest the developer is a private company with close ties to the ruling party. The land was degazetted from the park in a quiet administrative order last year. Environmental groups call it a backdoor land grab. The old guard protesting in the streets call it a betrayal.
This is not the first time Kenya’s courts have been tested. In 2017, Mutunga’s successor nullified the presidential election, a bold move that earned praise and condemnation in equal measure. But since then, the judiciary has come under pressure. Judges have been threatened. Budgets have been squeezed. And now, a former chief justice is arrested while protesting a development that many see as emblematic of the rot.
The international community is watching. The British High Commission has expressed concern. The US embassy called for ‘restraint on all sides.’ But those are diplomatic niceties. On the ground, the message is clear: if a former chief justice can be handcuffed for speaking out, what hope for an ordinary citizen?
Meanwhile, the bulldozers in Karura Forest haven’t stopped. They never do. The trees are coming down, the concrete is being poured, and the rule of law is being buried under it.
