Former Botswana High Court Judge, Justice Unity Dow, has been appointed to the Interim Independent Dispute Resolution Court (IICDRC) of Kenya.

Dow and two others international Justices, Barastache of Canada and Lord Abernethy from the United Kingdom, were sworn in by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on the 26th February 2010 at Kenya’s State House in Nairobi. They promised to dispense justice without fear, favor or ill-will.

Dow served at the Lobatse High Court for over 11 years; Barastache served for over 11 years at Canada’s highest Court and Abernethy has worked in Scotland and Botswana. The three Justices were described as hailing from three respected democracies where the rule of law is observed and the independence of the judiciary is an established principle; they bring to Kenya lessons learned from their respective countries.

Kenya’s IICDRC’s mandate is to hear all complaints related to the constitution- making process. Dow said they are expected to share with their Kenyan counterparts lessons they have learnt as judges in their respective countries.

Meanwhile the six Kenyan justices who form the majority of the IICDRC were sworn-in a few weeks earlier. They also attended the swearing- in of the international judges.

According to observers what remains now is for the Court to start the hard, challenging and hope-filing task of overseeing the ushering in of Kenya into a new era - the era of the rule of law under a modern human rights-based Constitution.

However deciding what goes into the new Constitution is for the Kenyan people themselves via a referendum that is expected to take place before the end of the year.

All this has been assured by a process regulated by an Act of Parliament and managed by a number of institutions among them the Committee of Experts, the Select Parliamentary Committee, the Kenyan Parliament and the Interim Independent Electoral Commission.

The aim is for the Kenyan people to be given the opportunity to create a Constitution that reflects their dreams and aspirations and to, above all, forge Kenya into a strong and cohesive nation.