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{
"id": 1072363,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1072363/?format=api",
"text_counter": 30,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Petitioner is saying that with the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and the extraordinary situation that we face, we need extraordinary efforts to make the wananchi access justice, particularly when it comes to wananchi seeking redress from courts when their properties are auctioned or their rights are endangered. If you read our newspapers, almost every day, we have six or seven pages of auctions by financial institutions. This is not because wananchi are fraudulent or refuse to pay loans, but the economy is so tight that some cannot meet their financial obligations. When the banks are uncaring and do not listen, the only avenue we have is the courts. The banks and financial institutions have the right to foreclose the borrower, but they should look at the circumstances and see what is best to do. They can restructure the loans, delay the payment or give a moratorium. They can do this or that. Courts have that right, but when you cannot access the court, you are at the mercy of the institutions. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, equally important is the point raised by the Senator for Kericho. The National Treasury must gazette the rules that will govern how the Judiciary can appropriate some of the monies they raise directly, so that they can meet their day-to-day needs. This Petition complains about simple issues like photocopying. Many times, you will go to court and want a photocopy of a critical document, but you are told that there is no photocopying paper in the Judiciary, yet the Judiciary raises huge sums of money to the Exchequer through filing fees, because nobody gets to court and gets their services for free. There is filing fees, adjournment costs, fines for those in the criminal justice process, and so on. We, therefore, need to have those rules gazetted. The Committee on Justice, Legal affairs and Human Rights, in which Sen. Faki sits, should look at this and see how to fast-track the drafting and tabling of those rules, so that we can activate how the Judiciary works. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this gentleman raises a very important issue, that when we deal with virtual judicial processes, we need to care about how many Kenyans have smartphones. How many people in Samburu can engage and conduct a civil or criminal trial through a virtual process? We are told that just about under 10 per cent of Kenyans have smartphones. The rest have ‘ kabambes’ and ‘ mulika mwizis.’ All they want is to do is make phone calls, receive phone calls, send M-pesa, get M-pesa, period! There is nothing else they want. Those who have phones that have YouTube, Google and mailing are very few. When you expect a mwananchi in Lamu, Vanga, Bungoma or Isiolo to engage in a court process virtually, it means that you expect them to have a computer, tablet or smartphone. They do not have them. We need to have a more innovative way of accessing wananchi to justice. Instead of cramming in courts, the Government should put aside money and help courts to organize to have open sessions. Justice is not just about buildings. It is about having a judicial officer, litigants, a process of hearing their grievances, and giving them the justice they want. You can put up a public dome, so that people do not have to cram and endanger their lives in terms of transmission of COVID-19. Justice can then be dispensed. In these extraordinary times, I know that we have courts all over, but the Judiciary should be"
}