• Maraga said the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature are equal and each should focus on its mandate.
• He alleged a plot by the Executive to remove him from office before the year ends and vowed to exercise the power bestowed on him by Kenyans.
Image: FILE
The year 2019 has been a mixed bag of sorts for the Judiciary. It registered achievements and encountered challenges in adjudication.
The challenges included budget cuts, verbal threats from politicians and disobedience of court orders by the Executive. For the first time since his appointment, Chief Justice David Maraga was angered by the action of the Executive and lamented about it in public, citing budget cuts, which he said crippled court operations.
He alleged a plot by the Executive to remove him from office before the year ends and vowed to exercise the power bestowed on him by Kenyans.
"I'm told some CSs are PSs are bragging around that the CJ will or should be removed from office before the end of this year. Really? Kumbe hii nchi iko na wenyewe (Is that to mean this country has its owners?)," Maraga said.
He bitterly complained about budget cuts, which prompted the Judiciary to abandon all mobile courts that served pastoral communities, especially residents of far-flung areas and islands. Also hit by the budget cut was the fuel for judges’ cars and internet connectivity.
Maraga said the three arms — the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature — are equal and that each should focus on its mandate.
"None of the three arms of government should control or direct how any other arm should exercise the power that the people of Kenya have delegated to that state organ," he said.
Each arm should work based on the powers delegated by the Constitution, he said. Three days after the complaints, the Treasury restored the funds. Judiciary Chief Registrar Anne Amadi confirmed that the funds were restored through a letter dated November 6.
The Law Society of Kenya had filed a petition on October 25, challenging the Treasury's move to retain the funds. The court issued orders to the Treasury, including a compelling it to fully implement the approved 2019-10 Judiciary budget.
Another thorn in their flesh were condemnations by politicians in rallies whenever orders against them were issued. The Judiciary, despite its promise, also failed to automate the recently formed anti-corruption courts. The plan was aimed at speeding up graft cases to avoid clogging the court system. There was another ambitious plan to start virtual courts in Kenyan embassies in the UK and the US but this fell on the wayside because of budget cuts.
Despite the problems, however, all was not gloom. The Judiciary made some strides in the construction of new courts, launching of service weeks, clearing of case backlogs and hiring additional 41 judges to tackle staff shortage. Nakuru law courts, for instance, held a service week on December 2-6 to clear more than 300 children cases.
The CJ opened a new court at Engineer law courts in Nyandarua. The court is part of the plan to enhance access to justice through the expansion of physical infrastructure. He also opened a new court in Molo. The new courts were funded by the World Bank through the Judicial Performance Improvement Project.
With the aim of reducing cases and time used to resolve them, the Judiciary promoted the adoption of mediation. And in line with that, Kakamega law courts held court-annexed mediation for four days from November 25.
The Judiciary further installed another public information kiosk at the Nakuru law courts to improve services. The facility has an English and Kiswahili service and enables clients to search dates for their cases online. It is the sixth station to be installed with the machine. Others include Milimani.
The Office of Judiciary Ombudsman conducted public clinics at Machakos and Kithimani courts to create awareness on the office and its mandate. Its officers engaged members of the public, received and processed complaints related to service and the conduct of judicial officers.
Only recently, the Judiciary launched a report on the state of children in the justice system. It also significantly reduced the number of cases pending in courts. During the Annual Judges Colloquium in Mombasa, Maraga indicated that they reduced five-year-old cases from 110,000 to only 15,278. The CJ attributed the success to strategies such as the adoption of service weeks.
“Efficacious and efficient disposal of matters remains our core promise to the people we serve. Some cases take inordinately long to resolve. We must, therefore, never tire of interrogating the issue of backlog clearance,” the Chief Justice said.
Justice Maraga said all stations developed action plans aimed at reducing the backlog. The Judiciary also looked at the increased use of technology as a way of hastening its work.
(Edited by F'Orieny)