Bench Bulletin - Issue 12 - Kenya Law Reports

KENYA LAW REPORTS
BENCH BULLETIN
FAREWELL LUNCHEON HELD IN HONOUR
OF THE IMMEDIATE FORMER EDITOR
MRS. GLADYS B. SHOLLEI
The immediate former Editor of the Kenya Law Reports Mrs.
Gladys B. Shollei accepts a gift from His Lordship The Hon. Mr.
Justice J.E. Gicheru during a farewell luncheon held in her honour
at a Nairobi hotel on April 16, 2010. From right to left: His
Lordship, the Chief Justice and the Chairman of the National
Council for Law Reporting; Mrs. Lydia Achode, the Registrar of
the High Court; Mr. Michael Murungi, Ag. Editor/ C.E.O, NCLR;
Mrs. Gladys B. Shollei, the immediate former Editor.
Reproduced below is the keynote speech delivered by
the Hon. Mr. Justice J.E. Gicheru, EGH, Chief Justice and
Chairman of the National Council for Law Reporting, on
the occasion of a farewell luncheon held in honour of Mrs.
Gladys B. Shollei, the immediate former Editor and C.E.O
of the Council on April 16, 2010, Nairobi.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are gathered here today, for this simple yet profound
occasion, to celebrate the tenure of Mrs. Gladys Shollei,
initially as the Assistant Editor of the Kenya Law Reports,
and subsequently as the Chief Executive Officer of the
National Council for Law Reporting and the Editor of the
Kenya Law Reports.
Mrs. Shollei’s service at the Council started in February
2001 and as you are all aware, ended honourably with
her resignation on March 16, 2010.
You will all agree with me that Mrs. Shollei’s nine-year
tenure has been most fulfilling not only for the Council as
an organization, but for the Judiciary as a whole. It was
through her pioneering spirit and visionary leadership,
that the Council rose from its humble beginnings in 2001
to its present position as an internationally renowned
publisher of legal information.
More particularly, I wish to commend her for the following
achievements:
FAREWELL LUNCHEON
of managers and staff, and instilled a positive,
result-oriented work ethic;
• She revived official law reporting in Kenya, after
it had lapsed for over two decades, thus making
a great contribution to not only access to public
legal information and education, but also to the
administration of justice, the transparency of the
judiciary and access to justice;
She went beyond the call of duty and moved
the Council from being a traditional law
reporter, to an institution that applies creative
solutions and technology, in providing
improved access to a broader menu of public
legal information that includes, the Laws
of Kenya, Bills of Parliament, Legal Notices,
the Daily Cause List, the Kenya Gazette, legal
articles and commentaries;
• She placed Kenya on the international map,
not only by making the Kenya Law Reports
website the first website in Africa and among
the few in the world providing the full text of
national legislation free of charge, but by forging
partnerships with international peers in law
reporting, such as the Association of Reporters of
Judicial Decisions, the Incorporated Council for
Law Reporting for England and Wales, the Free
Access to Law Movement, New York’s Leitner
Centre for International Law and Justice, among
others;
• She significantly narrowed the gap in unreported
cases, established a system of collecting and
reporting current cases, launched an official law
journal for Kenya, namely, the Kenya Law Review;
established the Bench Bulletin to update judicial
officers on the latest case law, and established the
Bench Research Hotline, a research facility for
receiving and processing legal research queries
from Judicial Officers; and
• Finally, as the Secretary to the Council, I believe
I speak for all the Members when I say that Mrs.
Shollei facilitated the Council’s meetings in a
most organized and efficient fashion. But beyond
all these, Mrs. Shollei has been our friend and
our colleague, and I believe we will all also have
the fondest memories of the moments that we
shared with her. She still remains our friend and
a friend of the Council, and I am pleased to learn
that in her new role as the Deputy Chief Electoral
Officer of the Interim Independent Electoral
Commission, she is already partnering with the
Council’s Secretariat on the publication of the
Election Petition Law Reports. Mrs. Shollei, on
behalf of the National Council for Law Reporting,
I thank you for your exemplary service and wish
you and your family God’s blessings in all your
future endeavours.
• She nurtured the Council’s Secretariat into a
well-established and well-resourced institution,
with a strong brand, a highly qualified team
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Issue 12: April-June 2010