{"id":180009,"date":"2022-04-18T20:48:01","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T15:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=180009"},"modified":"2022-04-18T20:48:01","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T15:18:01","slug":"a-win-for-constitutional-values-in-pakistan-and-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-win-for-constitutional-values-in-pakistan-and-kenya\/","title":{"rendered":"A win for constitutional values in Pakistan and Kenya\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p aria-level=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">News:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> The <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Supreme Court of Kenya<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> has struck down the <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Building Bridges Initiative (BBI)<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> as unconstitutional. And The <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Supreme Court of Pakistan <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">unanimously rejected the decision of the deputy speaker of parliament to disallow the <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">no-confidence motion<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> against the prime minister. It also rejected the follow-up decision of the president to <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">dissolve<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> the National Assembly. Both the decisions were declared unconstitutional.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What are the issues in post-colonial societies?<\/span><\/b><\/h5>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">There has been a trend of weak judiciary in many post-colonial societies. It was seen in Kenya, Pakistan and other fellow countries <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What are the key takeaways for the Supreme Courts of other post-colonial societies?<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Both the <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Supreme Court of Kenya and Pakistan <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">have become examples of <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">judicial independence<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>&#8211;<\/strong> In 2017, the SC of Kenya nullified the <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">election<\/span><\/b> <b><span data-contrast=\"none\">of the<\/span><\/b> <b><span data-contrast=\"none\">president<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> due to irregularities. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><strong>&#8211;<\/strong> In 2021, the Pakistan SC instructed the executive to rebuild a <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Hindu temple<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> that had been vandalised from its own resources and to recover the expenditure from the vandals.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">These rulings imply that the Judiciary in post-colonial societies have been retrieved from their zone of <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">neglect<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">. They have restored to its rightful place at the heart of the <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">constitutional order.<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> They have upheld the<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> classical principle of constitutional democracy,<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> known as \u201c<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">checks and balances\u201d.<\/span><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">constitutional courts<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> should act with <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">judicial independence<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">. They should regulate the flow of politics rather than be compromised and submerged by it.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">In the present cases, the judiciary has restored the sanctity of the constitution. They have upheld the <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">principle of limited government<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">. In fact, this principle is at the heart of a <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">constitutional democracy.<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> It means the electoral verdict does not give the legislature and the executive <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">unlimited power<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The judiciary of other post-colonial societies can learn the lesson that <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">all stakeholders <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">should be <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">consulted<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> by the judiciary before giving final verdict. For example, the Supreme court of Kenya and Pakistan consulted all the stakeholders.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The Supreme Courts upheld the sanctity of the constitution by rejecting <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">the \u201cdoctrine of necessity\u201d<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">. The doctrine mandates to live with the illegal decision of the executive since it is necessary.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">What are four factors that explain the boldness of the courts?<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">(1) The law should be of good quality. They should be clear about the necessary constraints on the executive. The laws which are unambiguous make less difficult for the judiciary to arrive at the right ruling.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">(2) The political elites in the country must publicly question the actions of the executive. It emboldens the judiciary.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">(3) There has to be a robust<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> public discourse<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> about the unconstitutionality of the executive decision. It will also embolden the judiciary to reverse the declining legitimacy of the constitutional order.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">(4) The judges should be courageous. To become so, the judges require to have \u201c<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">vision<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201d to imagine the future that the constitution envisages for the country, \u201c<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Passion<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201d to see themselves as the custodians of its constitutional values, and \u201c<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">a sense of responsibility<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201d that makes them fair regulators of arrogant politics.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:420}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Source<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">: The post is based on an article \u201c<strong>A win for constitutional values in Pakistan and Kenya<\/strong>\u201d published in the <strong>Indian Express<\/strong> on <strong>18<\/strong><\/span><strong>th<\/strong><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><strong> April 2022<\/strong>.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The Supreme Court of Kenya has struck down the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) as unconstitutional. And The Supreme Court of Pakistan unanimously rejected the decision of the deputy speaker of parliament to disallow the no-confidence motion against the prime minister. It also rejected the follow-up decision of the president to dissolve the National Assembly.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-win-for-constitutional-values-in-pakistan-and-kenya\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A win for constitutional values in Pakistan and Kenya\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10500],"class_list":["post-180009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704815910},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}