Amnesty International Kenya is calling on the government to make legal aid services more available to Kenyans.
They said government needs to invest more in legal aid services to make access to justice more achievable for more citizens.
This follows a survey they conducted on October 10 and 12 during the legal empowerment and freedom clinics, held in partnership with the Law Society of Kenya.
“Engaging with more than 500 Kenyans in Bungoma, Kilifi, Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret, Garissa, Siaya and Nairobi, we learned that accessing justice is costly for most in terms of time and money,” they said.
The lobby said on average, 88 per cent said they had a monthly income of Sh15,000 and only 33 per cent had interacted with courts to resolve civil matters.
“Some 36 per cent have been unable to access legal counsel due to cost. For those that have had legal counsel, filing cases costed Sh1,000 to Sh20,000,” they said.
Amnesty said only 10 per cent of Kenyans attending the legal clinics had heard of the National Legal Aid Services and Fund.
“A staggering 66 per cent still feel uncomfortable before our courts,” they said.
The lobby further said 90 per cent of clients with court cases indicated that they have had matters in court for more than five years.
A number of NGOs take up the responsibility of giving free legal counsel to Kenyans, including the Center for Rights Education and Awareness and the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa.
Chief Justice Koome has been working to make the Judiciary address the backlog of cases it has been experiencing for the past years.
Lawyer and senior prosecution counsel at the ODPP, Duncan Ondimu recently said there are approximately 15,496 cases of sexual offences pending in courts countrywide or adjudicated for the financial year 2021 to 2022.
Those are only sexual offenses cases, other court cases including land cases cannot be accounted for.
Amnesty said they presented their memorandum to Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu and other state agencies responsible to look into it.
