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SPEECH BY THE HON. DR. WILLY MUTUNGA, D.Jur., SC., EGH., CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA; PRESIDENT OF THE SUPREME COURT OF KENYA & CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR LAW REPORTING DURING THE COUNCIL’S THANKSGIVING & ANNUAL STAFF CONFERENCE HELD AT THE PANARI SKY CENTRE, NAIROBI, ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2012

Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning.

I am pleased and honored to be with you all here today for the National Council for Law Reporting Thanksgiving and Annual Staff Conference.

As you have been informed, this is a unique event in the Council’s calendar. The Council’s Annual Staff Conferences have not previously been preceded by a half-day programme of prayer, thanksgiving, motivational speaking and counseling. This event is unique because 2011 was not an ordinary year for the Council.

As you have been informed, in the last three months of 2011, the Council was bereaved of three members of its staff – Mr. Justin Muthee who was serving as a Sales, Marketing and Customer Care Officer; Mr. Wilson Riungu, serving as a Front Office Assistant; and Mrs. Hilda Marangu, who served as a Copy Editor and who was one of the pioneering members of the Council’s staff.

The first of these bereavements occurred in October 9, 2011 and it was the first time that the Council had been bereaved of a serving member of staff. This and the two bereavements that followed shortly thereafter, that is December 3 and December 12, 2011 respectively, have, quite understandably, exacted a heavy emotional toll on the close-nit family that is the National Council for Law Reporting.

In moments of loss and suffering, it is only natural for the human spirit to seek the solace and company of friends; to reach out for a hug and a word of encouragement from someone you know; to lean on the shoulder of a friend and know that you are not alone; to share words of comfort and wisdom and to know that as fellow human beings, we are yoked together in our experiences of pain and suffering as we are in our triumphs, successes and joys. All we have in this world is each other.

And what great friends we have in Rev. Ambrose Nyangao, Mrs. Batuli Suleiman and Ms. Tazim Elkington, our guest speakers for this morning.

Rev. Ambrose, a minister of the Gospel at the Parklands Baptist Church, who for many years has been a blessing to his congregation and this country and whose story of courage, faith and victory narrated in his book Taking the City should be an inspiration to all of us.

Mrs. Batuli Suleiman, an educationist and religious teacher, who dedicates her time and knowledge not only to teaching high school students and imparting social and life skills to teenagers but also to helping adults to spiritually transcend negative emotions during difficult moments of their life.

And Ms. Tazim Elkington, the Indian Black Butterfly, an accomplished Paradigm Shifter, Trainer, Writer, Speaker and Poet, who in her poem, A Glorious Rebirth tells us that

“Each day we awake, we are born again. For life has given us another morning another day.

Rejoice and live as though it were your first and your last day as we never know if there will be another tomorrow.

In return for life, offer your goodness, your compassion, your love and care for the very existence of life itself.

We are deeply moved and honored by all three of you, that you have accepted our invitation to be our friends in our time of need; that you have given us your shoulder of comfort at a time when we are feeling low; and that you have come to share words of hope and encouragement at a time when our hearts are still heavy with the memory of our departed colleagues.

I would also like to express my appreciation to the members of the Board of Directors of the Council for their support on this occasion and for continuing to offer wise leadership and guidance to the institution.

On my own behalf and that of the Board, I wish to commend the Team Leaders and Team Players of the National Council for Law Reporting for the strength and fortitude that you have demonstrated in dealing with three successive bereavements in three months and for the support and comfort that you have given to the families and friends of our departed colleagues. I also thank you for fostering a culture of unity, family and community amongst yourselves and the deep concern that you continue to show for the welfare of each other.

Today, we are happy to expand our community of friends to include our three speakers; Ludy Meryl, who sings so beautifully that it reminds us to always reach in for the child who resides inside of us and to always engage the world with love, fun and a smile; and Mathare Roots Youth Group, a community-based self-help group of young people whose friendship and partnership we hope to consolidate as we get on with 2012.

I hope that this occasion will enrich our lives and I hope that the memory of our departed colleagues will serve to inspire us rather than to fill us with grief and despair.

Let us always remember that greatest honour that we can give to them is to render honest and diligent service to the Council the way that they rendered theirs; to touch other people’s lives the way that they touched ours; and to live our lives so that when our work on earth is done, those we leave behind will have a reason to hold a thanksgiving in our honor.

Thank you and God Bless you.

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