The Judiciary has made some remarkable strides in the Alternative Justice System, particularly in Court Annexed Mediation, established in the Country’s Justice System five years ago and as recently captured by the new Chief Justice, Martha Koome, in her assumption of office speech; the project will greatly contribute in the reduction of case backlog.
Following the launch of Court Annexed Mediation in 2016 in Nairobi, the Judiciary has established mediation in 12 other regions in the country. Litigants seeking Court Annexed Mediation to resolve long-standing matters can now get assistance at CAM Registries in Mombasa, Tononoka, Eldoret, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Machakos, Garissa, Embu, Kakamega, Malindi, Nyamira and Kisii law courts.
The Mediation Taskforce chaired by Justice Fred Ochieng has embarked on rolling out Mediation to other stations in the country. Soon, litigants in Kerugoya, Siakago, Kitale and Kapsabet will have CAM Registries where they can have their matters resolved fast and amicably.
Besides speeding the wheels of justice, the biggest achievement of the Court Annexed Mediation has been in helping unlock resources to the economy in terms of billions of shillings.
It is conservatively estimated that since its inception, CAM has unlocked over Sh10 billion that had been held back in the economy due to adversarial court litigations.
Another benefit of mediation is that it is less emotionally draining compared to court cases. This has helped to restore many broken relationships as it provides parties with the opportunity to settle their disputes in a reconciliatory manner.
The presiding judge of the Family Division of the High Court of Kenya, Justice Aggrey Muchelule, affirms that the Judiciary is in the process of ensuring that all family cases across the courts implement CAM, thereby ensuring amicable resolutions
Additionally, mediation saves on time of resolving disputes, and as we all know, time is money. Court Annexed Mediation has proved this by improving on the timelines for resolving civil matters.
Under the adversarial court trials, it takes an average of 673 days (which translates to close to two years) to settle simple civil matters and longer for complex matters. But with the adoption of Court Annexed Mediation, matters are settled within an average of 69 days.
The speedy settlement of cases through mediation has contributed to Kenya’s improved ranking in the 2020 World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index at 56 out of 190 countries. In the overly competitive world of international business; this kind of ranking is a big deal and is worth billions of dollars in the business world.
Furthermore, in a study conducted by Law Development Partnership, it is estimated that 100 per cent roll-out of Court Annexed Mediation will help clear case backlog in record time.
As mediation continues to grow its roots in Kenya, there has been increased collaboration amongst key stakeholders. Among these include the general litigating public who have realised that the system is faster and reconciliatory.
Other partners who are embracing mediation are lawyers who were previously perceived to be against the alternative justice system. However, this has proven the opposite as lawyers are currently top among those accredited as mediators.
There has also been significant achievement in developing policies, rules, practice directions and now the conversations on the legislations that govern ADR are in process.
As mediation gets entrenched into the country’s legal system, it will have significant potential not merely for reducing the burden of case backlog in our courts, but more fundamentally, bringing about a qualitative change in the focus of the legal system from litigation to mediation of disputes.
