Her leadership has expanded accessibility of the courts and she has been swiftly responsive to complaints.
Take the case of the high bond terms that courts were giving to the maandamano defendants, including children. We complained to her and she intervened swiftly.
Also, she has brought a new class and energy to the job, exemplified by the way she’s remodelled her office. You get the vibe of revival and newness in undertaking the job.
She has also done well in overseeing an uptick in recruitment of judges, though it is not at the point we would like to see.
The courts have also remained largely independent and judges have made numerous decisions against the government despite the perceived camaraderie between the courts and the executive at the early stages.
She has acquitted herself well in this regard as judges have remained independent and sustained public confidence.
However, on the misses, the CJ has not been bold enough in standing up to the executive with regards to bashing of the courts and the judiciary.
We would like to see her do more publicly in defence of the judges so that politicians do not sustain the trend of undermining public confidence in the courts.
It is also a concern that it takes longer time to resolve complaints levelled against judges and magistrates and this breeds impunity as well as undermining any confidence that even judges and magistrates can be held accountable.
Also, there is need to a predictable and consistent policy on transfer of judges and the judiciary should be alive to the public perception.
For example, some judges who have handled cases whose outcome have been against the executive and when you transfer them immediately after that, you create a perception that there is a link between the decision and the transfer, even if there was none.
So, to the extent that Koome’s Judicial Service Commission does not put that into consideration is a miss.
The question of staffing still remains an issue. The CJ should do more in pushing for hiring of at least 50 more judges to ensure that backlogs are cleared, otherwise it will continue to mount and delay decisions.
The LSK president spoke to the Star
