Kenya Political Party Logos courtesy of Kikuyumoja using a Creative Commons license

In the latest twist along the winding, bumpy and treacherous road that is Kenya’s Grand Coalition, Justice Minister Martha Karua resigned today citing, among other things, the recent appointment of seven High Court judges without her knowledge as the reason for her tendering her resignation.

SO high maintenance. I mean, what are a few ‘under-the-table, between friends’ judicial appointments when it’s all about holding together the government?

Ms. Karua held her press conference earlier today, announcing her not-totally-unexpected resignation from Cabinet. While she has decried the judges’ appointment as a threat to the rule of law in Kenya, other commentators have already accused her of jeopardizing the institution of the courts in Kenya when she called for the resignation of Kenya’s Chief Justice, Evan Gicheru, claiming that judges receive appointment by ‘favouritism, cronyism and incompetence’, and that if there are any good judges in Kenya’s High Court, it’s by luck rather than any systematic or transparent process.

As if that wasn’t enough. Also today, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who maintains that President Mwai Kibaki stole the election from Odinga’s ODM party in the 2007 General Election, lashed out at the President: ‘He (Kibaki) has no respect for me… We have been patient enough. We signed the National Accord to restore peace but we are being taken for granted. From today, we will go back to the people and demand reforms.’.

President Kibaki is in Zambia, and apparently can’t comment on any of this until he gets back – lucky or unlucky for him, depending on how you look at it: Odinga is sure he could win a General Election today, because he won it before, and Karua has made no secret of her intent to run for leadership of Kenya’s government in the next General Election in 2012 (provided that the Grand Coalition lasts that long).  Kibaki is not going to be re-elected in 2012. So what’s going to happen?

Kenyan politics are fast-paced, and as such, 2012 is light-years away; anything could happen. However, I’ll add my two cents to the mix, and put my money on Karua as the best bet in Kenyan politics today for pushing through reforms and tackling corruption (e.g. REALLY tackling it, not just talking about it). Naysayers claim that she’s not smooth enough to build the necessary support for a leadership bid in 2012, and that by slamming the judicial establishment, she’s just added another line to her growing list of  ‘People who’s ego you should have stroked but didn’t’. But if Odinga was to agitate for an early election, he might do himself a disservice – Kenyans are still jumpy about the clashes in the last general election, many displaced Kenyans are still not resettle, and the underlying tensions between groups remain.

So, perhaps Karua, not Odinga, is the beginning of what Kenya needs: high-level politicians who are truly committed, in the long-run, however daunting the task may be, to reforming the system. Kenyan politics is a nasty business (small plug: pick up Michela Wrong’s latest, It’s Our Turn to Eat, all about corruption in Kenya – and apparently not widely available in Kenyan bookstores due to the content), and perhaps it will get worse before it gets better.

But, for now, here’s to Karua in 2012!