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"speaker_name": "Hon. Gikaria",
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"legal_name": "David Gikaria",
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"content": "courts in places that are gazetted and where members of the public can access them. In Nakuru, the municipal courts are located within the vicinity of the municipal premises and the authorities there close the gates. To some point, people were unable to access the courts. Some people had their bonds withdrawn because there were some riots which were going on, while the court was in session. Therefore, it is important for us to have the courts located in places as it is indicated in the Bill. The locations of the courts should be gazetted, and should be within the reach of every person who needs to use the facilities. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to listen to Hon. Chepkong’a and Hon. Waiganjo. They have already alluded to some of the amendments that the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs Committee has brought. Given the pecuniary limits of Kshs7 million and below, it means that any person with a pecuniary figure of more than Ksh8 million will not access the Magistrate Court. According to the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, they will bring some amendments during the Third Reading to push the limits of civil cases up to Ksh20 million for our Chief Magistrates. That is important because, again, yesterday, an hon. Member said that they did not have a High Court in their area, and that they needed to travel to very far distances to have their cases addressed. That is because the jurisdiction of the Magistrate Court was limited to a certain level. Therefore, the decision of the Departmental Committee of Justice and Legal Affairs Committee to increase the limit of pecuniary jurisdiction of Chief Magistrates from Kshs7 million to Ksh20 million is good. During the Third Reading, we also need to have some caution. One day, I had an opportunity to attend a seminar of the Judges and Magistrate Vetting Board. The participants argued about some magistrates who, at times, made judgments which ended up being recanted by the High Court. It is important for us to be cautious as we give magistrates powers to handle land cases within their areas of jurisdiction. We need to be sure that they can be able to handle cases that are within their mandate, so that they do not go over-board and end up with judgements that attract appeals. If you look at Article 7(2), which gives the chief magistrate limits of between Kshs7 million and Kshs20 million, you will notice that the Chief Justice may from time to time adjust those limits. Yesterday, Article 3 brought a lot of issues regarding some of the sub-clauses contained in the Bill. The presiding Speaker actually alluded to some of the issues. As he directed yesterday, some of these amendments should be brought during the Third Reading so that we can address this particular matter, as it is stated under Clause 7(3) (c). If it is left the way it is, people might take advantage of it and men, in particular, will suffer. Yesterday we had a small discussion with Hon. Wahome regarding Article 8(2). Article 25 of the Constitutional gives the Magistrate Court an opportunity to even listen to cases relating to fundamental human rights issues. While dealing with cases of violation of fundamental human rights particularly - particularly cruelty, torture and human behaviours that are indicated under Article 25 – we need to be a little careful. As much as we would want the Magistrate Courts to have those kinds of powers and the jurisdiction to listen to such cases, we need to be careful. If we are not very careful, we can have people making unjustified rulings - like it was alluded to the other day regarding the teachers strike. It was said that a court just sits and, without looking into other parameters that govern their ruling, they make a ruling. It was said that the court gave a ruling without considering certain provisions of the Constitution. We might give Magistrate Courts such powers and end up having some compensatory awards which are beyond the limits of such courts. In this regard, we will, again, be looking at whether we can bring some amendments. As you have indicated, it is important for us to look at the human rights issues that 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."
}