Judiciary in for facelift as reforms gather pace

Major reforms have been proposed for the Judiciary to address the backlog of cases, eliminate corruption and improve on service delivery to the public.

The recommendations are contained in a report of the Task Force on Judicial Reforms that was presented to the Chief Justice and the Minister for Justice.

The Judiciary has been dogged by a huge backlog of cases.

A report done by Ms Beneah Mutsotso on behalf of The Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA Kenya) reveals that a total of 998,263 cases are pending in courts countrywide with 209,668 before the High Court and 788,595 before Magistrates Courts by December 2009.

About 55 per cent (416,134) of those cases relate to traffic offences with 190,969 being civil, 122,159 are criminal and 10,189 relate to land issues.

To address this, the report recommends the filling of all vacant positions of Judges and Magistrates, an evaluation of human resource needs to be undertaken so as to determine the adequate staffing levels and an amendment to the Judicature Act to increase to at least 30 and 120 the number of Court of Appeal Judges and High Court Judges respectively.

However, the Registrar of the High Court Ms Lydia Achode said that a total of 50 new magistrates had been hired and were to start work this month in an effort to address the staffing shortfall.

Case monitoring and outputs of individual Judges will be published and Commissioners will be hired to deal with cases older than five years as a temporary measure.

Small Claims Courts and other courts will be established to deal with petty criminal cases.

To reduce the backlog of traffic cases a National Road Safety Authority has been proposed to impose instant fines on traffic offenders who plead guilty, review national drivers licenses and logbooks and help in information sharing between Police and the Registrar of Motor Vehicles.

Urgent cases

Courts will also be empowered to dismiss criminal appeals if they have not been prosecuted within 1 year after their filing and 24 hour courts will be established to deal with urgent cases.

The report recommends that an ICT policy and Master Plan be established.

Ms Achode, a Joint Secretary of the Task Force said that the Chief Justice had already put together a committee of ICT to spearhead computerisation of the Judiciary.

“The Ministry of Information Communication through the ICT Board has helped us kick-off digitisation of records with the Central Registry here at Milimani. This will then be rolled to other High Courts” she said.

She added that the public will also be able to check hearing dates through an SMS service that will help the public interface with the court.

To improve efficiency, the government has sponsored 3 court stations for automation while the Judiciary is doing the remaining 15.

The use of Teleprocess that works via video link starting with the Court of Appeal is also being developed and recording and transcribing of court proceedings has started so that advocates are able to get a copy of the proceedings immediately after a session.

Getrude, Angote an advocate and the Co-ordinator of Legal Aid and Education at Kituo Cha Sheria, said that these ICT efforts would go a long way in building confidence in the court system.

“These initiatives are timely. You cannot expect a Judge to write everything during a proceeding that takes a long time” she said.

Legislation for alternative methods of dispute resolution including mediation and negotiation will also be implemented.

Ms Angote said that if traditional systems are upgraded so that sentences are commensurate with offences, then they could be used as alternative systems.

The functions of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) will be expanded to include performance management and discipline of all judicial staff including Judges.

Currently it has not been very clear on how to deal with an errant Judge.

The Registrar, Magistrates, Paralegals are employees of JSC and thus can be employed, disciplined or fired.

Judges on the other hand work for the Judicial Service Commission but are appointed by the President.

The JSC will also be required to contract with experts to design a performance management system and all newly appointed Judges and other JSC staff will undergo an induction course before assuming their functions.

The Judiciary will also be required to map out the main areas in the judiciary that are prone to corruption and develop and implement an anti-corruption strategy.

By the end of the year cash-fines will no longer be used.

“The public will be required to pay money at the bank then bring in a banking slip” said Ms Achode.

Financial autonomy

To enhance the independence, operational and financial autonomy, budgetary allocation to the Judiciary will be set at a minimum 2.5 per cent of the national budget and its expenses a direct charge on the Consolidated Fund.

Currently the courts draw their expenses as allocations through the Ministry of Justice and many times completion of projects and hiring of staff has been hampered due to reduced allocations.

This year alone, progress on over 10 projects directly related to either building or refurbishing court buildings including the Kerugoya, Nyeri, Nairobi (Income Tax), Migori and Malindi Courts which are 70 percent done, will scaled down due to budget cuts.

Judicial staff will also benefit from an enhanced medical cover, a motor vehicle and a mortgage scheme.