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{
    "id": 588624,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/588624/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 75,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Chanzu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 11,
        "legal_name": "Yusuf Kifuma Chanzu",
        "slug": "yusuf-chanzu"
    },
    "content": "Part II of the Bill provides for the jurisdiction of the court, responsibilities of the principal and presiding judges, order of precedence of judges of the court, quorum of the court, the sittings and the recess of sessions. Clause 4(b) provides for the constitution of the court by a principal judge and not more than 200 judges to be appointed. This is in accordance with Article 166(1)(b) of the Constitution. This is a large number of judges and, therefore, it will take a bit of time to constitute the court since people will have to be properly trained before they are deployed, in view of the changes that have taken place and in order to conform to the requirements from the Head Office here in Nairobi. This is a national function but we now have 47 counties as opposed to the eight provinces we had before. Therefore, it means that there will be need for expansion. In every county, we will require, at least, one judge so that matters can be resolved quickly and expeditiously. As we discussed the magistrate courts yesterday, we said that even if the magistrate courts were to function well, if the upper level courts do not function well, it will amount to nothing. Courts at every level must be functional. In this regard, funding is an important element. It is very important to create synergies amongst the various offices, namely the Office of Registrar, the offices of the Judges and the offices of the Principal Magistrates. We are talking about the composition of the structure, the sittings of the High Court, its decentralisation, administration and performance management as well as the alternative dispute resolution mechanism. The alternative dispute resolution mechanism is supposed to be more efficient since it will be dealing with specific matters. Some matters will be profession-specific in nature. For instance, if there is a dispute relating to engineering and construction, or one relating to medical issues, an arbitrator who is a profession in that field will listen to the dispute, assess the project and receive evidence from people. This will be done in-camera to ensure that the identities of the witnesses are shielded, unlike in the High Court where hearings are conducted in public. The alternative dispute resolution mechanism is less costly. It will take little time to resolve a matter as experts will be presiding over the hearings. Once an award is given, in order for the judgement to be enforced, the claimant will have to file it with the High Court. This means courts will need to have experts in various professions to assist in enforcing such determinations. We will avoid cases like the one involving former Speaker ole Kaparo, whose petition took more than 10 years to be resolved by court. The poor are party to it. Even us we avoid cases which are likely to last long because we have not had enough personnel to deal with them. This brings me to the matter of integrity. When courts sometimes make ruling on matters motor vehicle accident, the compensation claims of the victims are paid to their advocates. When they receive the money, the advocates treat it as their money. They spend all the money on costs and ensure that the victims of the accidents end up getting nothing. Sometimes victims of accidents are asked to pay extra costs to the advocates. Therefore, the issue of integrity is very important. The Office of the Ombudsman is very important. The bad conduct of some of the advocates should be reported to that office so that they can be resolved. The importance of computerisation of records is something that we cannot overstate. We need to have records kept so that any time we want them, they can easily and speedily be retrieved. Sometimes you go to court at Nine O’clock and you have to wait until midday because your file cannot be located. Therefore, you embark on a long journey back home. You go back to court in the afternoon only to find that the records are still not there. The issue of missing records leads to people asking for bribes for them to help locating the records. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}