Two lobby groups in Mombasa are educating the community on e-justice and the importance of the small claims court.
Sisters for Justice and Muslim Woman Advancement of Rights and Protection are creating awareness in a programme supported by Amkeni Kenya and UNDP.
Sisters for Justice executive director Naila Abdalla said they are helping people at the grassroots recover their money.
Small claims court resolves cases with a value of under Sh1 million.
"A person who is owed below Sh1 million can file a case in court with only Sh1,000. With the current hard economic state, there are people giving out loans, but repayment becomes a problem," Abdalla said.
"We have also seen women in groups taking loans and their property being auctioned because they are unable to service the loan."
She said these are some of the cases that can be solved by the small claims court.
Lawyer Judy Philip, who supports the organisations in legal issues, said the process of filing a case is simple and can be done from anywhere.
She said judgment for small claims is delivered in less than 60 days after a case is filed.
"The small claims court helps in reducing backlog and decongesting other courts. Many cases have now been heard and closed," Philip said.
"The court was launched in Mombasa in July 2023, but so many people have not heard about it. Those who are aware of it, do not know how it works."
Dirat Chema executive director Steven Oguna said a lot is going on in the community but people fail to go in court because of the rigorous procedures.
"The small claims court has now made things easy. We support it because it is a success. We have a person in the community who does not understand court procedures, so if we take the information to them, it will be easy to solve their problems," he said.
