•Ochieng is the national chairman of the Alternative Dispute Resolution.
•He said as of 2019, they had rolled out the exercise to 11 court stations.
Image: FAITH MATETE
Kisumu High Court Judge Justice Fred Ochieng has said there is a need to continue strengthening alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
Ochieng said the Judiciary needs Sh500 million yearly for the mediation programme.
This financial year, Sh50 million will be used to pay mediators.
This, he said, is just a drop in the ocean and they need Sh500 million to continue growing mediation.
Ochieng is the national chairman of the Alternative Dispute Resolution.
He said as of 2019, they had rolled out the exercise to 11 court stations.
Ochieng said they wanted it rolled out to all stations by 2020, however, the process was slowed down by the pandemic.
“This forced us to do things virtually and mediators were able to work from home or away from the parts involved,” Ochieng said in Kisumu on Wednesday.
He, however, said this year, they will continue with the rolling out exercise.
This week, they visited Nyeri while last week they were in Nanyuki and Kerugoya.
“If we have not reached out to your area, get in touch with us. The stations will empower you to find solutions by yourself,” Ochieng said.
He said the courts are not worried by ADR but instead they do encourage them, recognise them and want to empower them.
“Research shows that perhaps over 80 per cent of all disunities that arise are not taken to the court, whether in family, schools or church, people find solutions to their disputes,” Ochieng said.
“This means the court systems handle at most 20 per cent.”
United Nations Development Programme team leader for governance and inclusive growth Dan Juma said, for the past four years, they have been implementing a programme for legal aid delivery in Kenya.
He said the idea is to support access to justice through informal and alternative justice systems.
“Access to justice means that in addition to the judicial systems, we can use alternative justice systems which comprised of a whole diversity of mechanisms to provide a legal remedy needed by society,” Juma said.
“We are therefore partnering with the civil society organisations, state agencies, and the Judiciary to support grassroots communities that work with some of the marginalised communities to access justice.”
Betty Okero, CSO network team leader said the conversation helped in sharing experiences and best practices in conflict resolution.
She said they want to add value to alternative conflict resolution, in a way that would ensure worrying parties feel satisfied after going through the process.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris