A fractious dispute has arisen in Kenya over the validity of a lawyer dismissed as a fraud in some quarters but revered by a growing band of supporters.
Brian Mwenda came to national and international prominence last week when it was claimed he had won 26 cases in court despite not being qualified to appear in the High Court.
Mwenda’s supporters have held him up as a hero who has exposed flaws in the justice system and represented those who might not otherwise have been able to fight their case. But the country's professional regulator, the Law Society of Kenya, released a statement on Friday describing Mwenda as a ‘masquerader’ and a ‘criminal’ who had attempted to use the profile of a genuine advocate to access the organisation’s online system and had misled clients to receive fees from them.
Following an emergency meeting of the council of the law society, president Eric Theuri said: ‘Masqueraders pose a serious threat to the practice of law and [the society] is determined to take decisive action to deal with this issue. We call on members to remain vigilant and inform the secretariat or their respective branches of any cases of suspected masqueraders for investigation and apprehension.’
A video circulated over the weekend showed Theuri urging people not to treat Mwenda as a hero and saying he was now a ‘fugitive’ trying to avoid arrest.
Mwenda was admitted to the Kenyan bar in August last year but did not apply for a practising certificate as he was working at the Office of the Attorney General.
The story took another twist when former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko appeared today in a video alongside Mwenda and giving him his backing. The man purporting to be Mwenda denied he was trying to evade arrest and said that he would present himself to police this week. He said he was a law-abiding citizen and that he wanted to persuade people it was ‘not just the text of the law that should count but the purpose’.
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