- Koome said the conduct of a few judicial officers has led to generalised criticisms of the entire Judiciary for failing to live up to the ideals of ethical conduct.
- The CJ also laid out a number of strategies that will be used to achieve the vision, including ensuring access to courts.
Image: FILE
Chief Justice Martha Koome on Wednesday challenged judges to ensure that the Judiciary remains a credible institution that has the trust and confidence of the public.
Koome said the conduct of a few judicial officers has led to generalised criticisms of the entire Judiciary for failing to live up to the ideals of ethical conduct.
She was speaking for the first time during the Annual Judges Colloquium at Sarova Whitesands Hotel, Mombasa.
“I know and have faith that most of our judges, judicial officers and Judiciary staff are genuinely professional, ethical, diligent, honourable, and hard-working men and women,” Koome said.
However, she said there are accusations lodged with the Judicial Service Commission and the Office of the Judiciary Ombudsman concerning some of the decisions made by judicial staff.
The decisions, according to the accusations, are motivated by considerations that are inconsistent with the judicial oath of office.
“The universal expectation is that the Judiciary is expected to be composed of men and women who are upright. As a Judiciary [we] can only be as good as the judges and judicial officers who man the courts,” she said.
The CJ also said they are enhancing the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of Judiciary complaint handling mechanisms at the JSC and the Office of the Judiciary Ombudsperson.
She said the Judiciary must embrace “judicial hygiene” and live by the “moral code” that is the Judicial Service Code of Conduct and Ethics.
Koome was addressing the judges for the first time since she assumed her position as the 15th Chief Justice of Kenya in May last year.
The Annual Judges Colloquium has not taken place for the past two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic that had prevented the judges from meeting in 2020 and 2021.
Koome shared with the judges her vision dubbed, ‘Social Transformation through Access to Justice’, which aspires to open the doors of justice for all within our borders.
The CJ said they have also partnered with the EACC to undertake a thorough systems review to make recommendations on how to seal loopholes being exploited to further corrupt activities.
“We will be the people’s Judiciary,” she said.
She also said they want to make the Judiciary a strong institution that is accessible, efficient and protects the rights of all, especially the vulnerable.
“We are aiming at developing a people-centred justice system that is focused on people’s needs thus reinforcing the idea of justice as a public good,” Koome said.
The CJ said the STAJ’s vision is to widen access to justice by putting in place an efficient, cost-effective, accessible, expeditious, and fair system of delivery of justice.
The vision will prioritise a number of areas, including clearing case backlog and improving access to justice by increasing the avenues for accessing justice.
It will also focus on digitisation of the judicial operations and processes by strengthening internal and external complaints mechanisms, as well as improving coordination and synergy of the actors within the justice sector.
The CJ laid out a number of strategies that will be used to achieve the vision, including ensuring access to courts.
“We aim to realise this by ensuring that there is a magistrates’ court station in every subcounty and a High Court and Court of Equal Status in every county. This is geared towards ensuring that no one travels for over 100km to access judicial service,” she said.
To address the challenge of the availability of physical courts, the CJ said that they had developed a Judiciary Infrastructure Marshal Plan to guide the rollout of the infrastructure vision for the next 10 years.
The Building and Infrastructure Committee, she said, developed the plan.
She also said that the Judiciary was going to roll out Small Claims Courts throughout the country.
This is aimed at ensuring that social grievances, especially for the economically vulnerable members of the society, are resolved expeditiously to promote peaceful co-existence in informal settlements.
(edited by Amol Awuor)