Faith in Our Shared Humanity
An advocate of the High Court of Kenya since 2012, Spencer West Commercial Partner Peter Kamero regularly puts his Christian faith into action as a volunteer intervening to address miscarriages of justice.
It all started at a bus top when distinguished Kenyan lawyer Peter Kamero’s ambitions were just that: ambitions. His academic successes, and the personal qualities that lay behind them, were clear for all to see. Except for a certain policeman…
Peter, like many African teenagers, was shooting pool while waiting for a bus, blending in, minding his own business, until the door burst open and a group of angry police began to arrest everyone in the pool hall. Everyone. In the course of putting the young people in a van, Peter, a high school student at the time, mustered the courage to speak up. Calmly but firmly, he tried to reason with the officers, explaining, “I’m just a student. I haven’t done anything wrong.” His argument, grounded in a belief that fairness would prevail, was met with hostility. One of the policemen, spotting perhaps a brighter spark, sneered at Peter, “This is not a classroom!” Then he administered a powerful blow. Peter has never forgotten what this moment felt like. All the teaching about merit and reward handed down to him by decent educators felt as if it had been smashed. Peter had learned a different kind of lesson, that life can turn on a coin for no good reason. Perhaps even more importantly, he learned that justice doesn’t maintain itself.
AJAR stands for Africa Justice and Restoration Kenya, a charity established by a Vineyard church. Its volunteer lawyers, Peter amongst them, are motivated by their Christian faith. Why does this matter? The short answer is that the work is demanding, and the barriers to success can be high. Shared faith is a continual source of strength and refreshment.
AJAR’s work starts with a table and two chairs. These are set up in the hall of a remand prison in an industrial area of Nairobi. Peter, or one of his colleagues, sits down, and a queue forms. Peter’s job, in the time allotted, is to give an audience to as many prisoners as possible, and to sift the merely disgruntled from the downright wronged. Checks are made against police records, references sought from the warders, and before long someone will emerge who is a victim rather than a perpetrator. Peter’s job is to take this sad statistic and to turn them back into a person.
He recalls one such young man, now gainfully employed again, who was playing with friends on a patch of scrubland. They found, and pocketed, some spent bullets, and took them home as trophies. This error of judgement cost him his place in school and his scholarship. Bail was set at the equivalent of about 750 pounds sterling, and eye watering sum of money for those young men. Not only did Peter succeed in halving this amount, but AJAR’s rolling bail fund was able to loan the money. The young men were released, and over time the case simply fell away. There was nothing in it at all.
Armed with his faith, his expertise, and personal experience of injury at the hands of the justice system, Peter Kamero makes a difference to the lives of individuals that cannot be measured by numbers or by tick boxes. He stimulates the justice system to change for the better. During 2025 AJAR will receive a grant from the Spencer West Foundation. If you would like to donate to the work of charities like AJAR, please contact the Foundation via [email protected]
