Oaths, Ordeals, and the Kenyan Courts: A Policy Analysis

This article analyzes the Kenyan judicial system's use of Kamba oaths and ordeals and discusses the issues arising from postcolonial policies of coopting traditional institutions of social control. During 1969 a high official in the Kenyan judicial system formulated a policy for applying the kithitu ordeal in civil suits among Kamba disputants at the level of the High Court in Nairobi and at the levels of the district courts in Machakos. This study attempts to demonstrate that coopting an uncentralized laissez-faire method of dispute settlement in a centralizing system of civil justice is counterproductive for the courts and the citizenry.John Roberts' cross-culturally tested ideas on oaths, ordeals, and power are used in making a policy assessment regarding current government utilization of oaths and ordeals in Kenya. The theoretical analysis and the public policy recommendation are relevant to policy makers in Kenya and in other pluralistic postcolonial nations in which traditional institutions of socia...