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{
    "id": 152682,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/152682/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 401,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Githae",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Nairobi Metropolitan Development",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 159,
        "legal_name": "Robinson Njeru Githae",
        "slug": "robinson-githae"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to second this very important Bill. This Bill should have come like yesterday because of the tremendous increase of cases still pending in our judicial system. In the last count, the Chief Justice said that we have more than 853,000 cases pending in the courts. This is the highest in the East African Community (EAC). The lowest is Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania. I strongly recommend to this House that we pass this Bill. It has been discussed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and the Law Reform Commission of Kenya and they have all agreed on it. We have more than 7,000 licensed lawyers in this country. As you know, if you take this bottle of water and ask four advocates what colour it is, you will get different reactions. One will say it is blue, another one will say it is colourless and another one will say it is yellow depending on what emphasis they are giving it. In this particular instance, all the lawyers have agreed that this is an important Bill and have agreed on all the amendments without a single exception. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the reasons why we have so many pending cases is because of the obsolete and outdated system of recording in the courts. Can you imagine in this Parliament if, as the presiding officer of this august House, you are required to be writing what we are saying. Try to attempt that one day and you will see what the judges and magistrates go through everyday. They have been reduced to mechanical robots. Instead of listening to the evidence, assessing and looking at the credibility of the witnesses, they are busy recording what the advocates say. For those of us who have appeared in the court, you have to speak at the speed of his pen. There was one Judge, but he is now retired; if you appeared before him and you spoke at a speed faster than what he was writing, he would simply remove his glasses fold his arms and lie back on his chair. It was particularly difficult for advocates to know that the message he was conveying is that you are speaking faster than what he was recording. Our courts have not kept pace with technology. If you go to the martial courts, you will get the proceedings of what transpired yesterday and the first item on the agenda is to go through the proceedings and then make any amendments or corrections which are"
}