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{
"id": 287130,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/287130/?format=api",
"text_counter": 386,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wamalwa",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 148,
"legal_name": "Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa",
"slug": "eugene-wamalwa"
},
"content": "The Judicature Act provides in Section 7 that the High Court judges should not exceed 70. This Bill proposes therefore an amendment of Section 7 to increase the number of judges up to 30 in the Court of Appeal and the number of judges up to 150 in the High Court. The proposed amendment for increasing the number of judges is to assist in reducing the backlog of cases in our courts as per the recommendation of the taskforce on judicial reforms that was appointed by the Government on 29th May, 2009. One of the biggest concerns is the serious backlog of cases that has built over the years and the shortage of judges that currently exists in our judicial system. Currently, with a population of 38 million Kenyans, the ratio of judges to Kenyans is two judges per one million Kenyans. The shortage is that high making one of the highest in the region and in the world. Compared to other countries in the world, like in the USA, we have a ratio of 100 per one million people. Ours is two judges per one million Kenyans. It is a huge disparity. If you were to go to Australia, you would find that we have a ratio of 41 judges per one million people. Therefore, the Kenyan situation is serious. The shortage of judges is acute and as a lawyer who has practised law for the last 17 years, I know the frustration that we go through in our practice in the High Court and the Court of Appeal. The delay in the disposal of cases is equally frustrating for litigants who go to our courts. It is equally frustrating to investors who come to do business in our country and cannot have disputes resolved and disposed of as quickly as they desire. This is costing our country. I believe in the maxim that “justice delayed is justice denied”. In our courts, we know of cases that have been pending for over 20 years. This is a very serious situation and we know that with the new Constitution in place it is, indeed, a violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms as enshrined in our Constitution. The new Constitution entitles every Kenyan, under Article 48 to the right of access to justice. In Article 50, every person has a right to a fair trial which includes the right to have a trial begin and be concluded without inordinate delay. So, every time we have delayed our cases in our courts, it is now under the new Constitution a clear violation. Something needs to be done and done urgently to ensure that we address the problem of shortage of judges and the problem of the backlog of cases. As I speak, our nation is undergoing fundamental judicial reforms. Today, as a country, we have done what other countries have not done. After passing the new Constitution, we have put in place a law that allows the vetting of judges and magistrates. Recently, we saw what had never been seen in this country when judges of the Court of Appeal, nine of them, went through the vetting process. The result of that vetting process of judges and magistrates saw a very high number of casualties. Out of nine very prominent judges, we had four of them sent home. That is almost fifty per cent. We know that after completion of the vetting of the Court of Appeal judges, the next phase that the Sharad Rao Commission is now undertaking is to move to the High Court where we will be having 44 High Court judges facing the board and going through the vetting process. If we are going to experience the same number of casualties as we did in the Court of Appeal, it will be that the High Court will also perhaps loose an equal high number of judges as the Court of Appeal. This, therefore, makes it even more urgent than before that we put in place the necessary amendment of the law to allow for an increment of judges both in the High Court and in the Court of Appeal. Apart from the reforms going on in terms of the vetting and cleaning up of our Judiciary, we know that there are other infrastructural developments in the Judiciary that are currently ongoing. As I speak, we have just about 17 High Court stations in our country. As the nation embraces devolution, it is necessary that in future, we have enough courts in all our counties for Kenyans to enjoy the fruits of this Constitution, particularly, the access to justice as provided in Article 48. It will be necessary for this country to have High Courts constructed in every county. If we have 17 right now, it will mean that we will in future have to put up about 30 High Court stations across the country for each county to have its own High Court. It will mean that we will need more judges to man the existing High Courts that are under-manned as well as have more judges in the High Courts that we will be constructing in line with the devolved system of Government that this country is now entering into."
}