Lack of knowledge among judicial officers compromising justice
The chairman of the Judges and Magistrates board Sharad Rao along with board members address a past press conference. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
The Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board has recommended that the Judiciary makes an effort to prepare a digest of all new laws and train judicial officers on the them promptly.
A section of judicial officers in the country have serious professional limitations including a lack of understanding of new laws, the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board has found.
The board indicated that some judicial officers have yet to internalise the Security Amendment act 2014 which has ramifications in criminal cases magistrates and judges handle on a day to day basis.
Board chairman Sharad Rao said none of the 45 magistrates vetted between January and February in Kisumu were aware of the Victims Protection Act 2014 which affords certain protection to witnesses.
Mr Rao said lack of knowledge among judicial officers compromises delivery of justice, adding that judicial officers have the obligation to keep abreast of all developments in the legal arena.
“Section 175 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that a judicial officer can order an accused to compensate that complaint in a criminal case. It appears none of the judicial officers is aware of this provision and it is hardly used,” he stated.
He said the litigants would benefit greatly if the provision is employed by magistrates and judges as it would do away with the needs to initiate a civil proceedings.
The board recommended that the Judiciary makes an effort to prepare from time to time a digest of all new laws and training all judicial officers on the laws promptly.
The Justice Rao led Judges and Magistrates vetting board also urged the Judiciary to consider reshuffling magistrates in the western region who were found to have over stayed there and only transferred within the area.
“This has hampered the growth of the judicial officers who are unable to undertake any masters study due of lack of access; and there interactions are limited to persons of similar culture and practices which limit their exposure as judicial officer,” said the board.
The magistrates from Nyanza, western and Rift Valley regions were also found to be notorious for absence from their stations and lacked the courtesy to inform parties beforehand of their imminent absence.
“This is particularly descriptive where parties travel long distances to access the courts. The judiciary has effectively adopted the SMS platform and should be able to use this innovation to alert parties of the imminent absence of a judicial officer from the station,” said the board.
The board also express concern over magistrates' wanting writing skills where only five out of 45 magistrates vetted in Kisumu were found to have exhibited exemplary writing skills.
“We would recommend that the judiciary comes up with a paper at its annual colloquium that discusses “Common Mistakes in Judgment writing” which will highly the shortcomings and act as a guide for improvement.”
It added: “The judgments are in most cases poorly typed and contain several grammatical mistakes. This was attributed to the typists who are apparently not properly trained or skilled,”
Some magistrates in the region were also found to be in discussions with county governments to be granted land to build court houses. The board urged the Judiciary not to leave that task to the judicial officers as it could be used to compromise their integrity.
