Thousands of Kenyans unable to hire lawyers to represent them in court are being denied representation due to underfunding of the state’s legal aid initiative.
Attorney General Paul Kihara on Monday said denying citizens access to justice is not only unfair but also affect order and stability in the society.
“Left unaddressed, this matter will, no doubt affect all facets of national development as well as peace and security,” Kihara said during the East African Regional Legal Aid conference at a Nairobi hotel.
The Conference themed ‘Promoting access to justice through legal aid; Building platforms for the engagement of legal aid networks and the formal justice systems’ brought together delegates from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi.
The acting Director of National Legal Aid Caroline Amondi said the underfunding of the Legal Aid initiative whose action plan to help the poor and vulnerable Kenyans was launched in 2017 has hampered its full operationalization and decentralization.
“Every financial year we receive an average of 15,000 legal aid cases but we are given Sh50 million to offer the services plus salaries_ which is just a drop in the ocean,” she said.
Amondi pointed out that in the last 2017-18 financial year they received the highest number of cases totalling to 56, 000 occasioned by internally displaced persons from Molo, Njoro and El Bagon seeking representation in court for being left out of compensation.
She noted there is need to devolve the legal aid services to all 47 counties for all needy citizens to benefit and not just the current five major urban centres such as Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nakuru.
“We require about Sh500 million to operationalize and devolve the legal aid services to all counties so that no Kenyans feels left out in the national government programme,” she said.
The Legal Aid Act enacted in 2016 paved way for the creation of the national legal aid service for the state under the Attorney General’s office to offer affordable, accessible, sustainable, credible and accountable legal aid service to the vulnerable.
“Presently, we are in the process of ensuring that the National Legal Aid Service is fully operational. The Legal Aid Act adopts a collaborative approach that brings together both state and non-state actors in a coordinated manner for the delivery of legal aid services to those in need,” Kihara said.