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{
    "id": 588911,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/588911/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 147,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Chepkong’a",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1154,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Kiprono Chepkonga",
        "slug": "samuel-kiprono-chepkonga"
    },
    "content": "conclusion of the hearing or closure of submissions by the parties represented in the case; the court must issue its judgement within 42 days. We know of cases where Judges held onto judgements for a whole year. The Leader of the Minority Party is making a lot of expressions suggesting that the delay in making judgement is always intended for other purposes, and not that of law. Such delays may end up encouraging corruption. If a judge delays delivering judgement, the litigant may look for a person who knows the judge or the magistrate with a view to influencing the outcome of the case, and that becomes a problem. We know of many cases where we have been told that written judgements have sometimes been given to one litigant in advance. So, as the parties to a case attend court to listen to the ruling of their case, one party is already aware of the ruling. So, there are no emotions on the part of such party. In fact, when he is declared the winner, he does not appear to express any motions. It looks to that party like they are expecting the ruling in the manner it has been read out in court because there are certain things which have gone wrong. Once we fix a timeline for judgements to be ready, there will be no room for manoeuvre; the Judge must ensure that he delivers the judgement within the prescribed timelines. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we have also sought to ensure that people who behave contemptuously in court are fined. The penalty that is provided in the Bill is too lenient, and with no prison term. We would like people to conduct themselves in court in an orderly and acceptable manner. If you shout in court and abuse the Presiding Judge, you are being contemptuous to that court. When you are fined by that court, on the face of the record, you are found to be contemptuous. You can be fined a maximum of Kshs2 million or be imprisoned for two years because contempt of court is a very serious offence. Parliament has the Standing Orders. If you are in breach of the Standing Orders you can be thrown out of the House. Equally, courts must be respected because they are our institutions of last resort when it comes to arbitration of disputes between individuals. In Parliament, we can have a quarrel but we can still end up in court. We must continue to have faith in our courts. We are seeking to harmonise the penalty contained in this particular Bill with the penalties contained in other legislations and in particular with regard to those relating to the Court of Appeal, which we will be speaking to in due course. This is because the penalties meted out by the Court of Appeal are different from those meted out by the High Court. Therefore, we are seeking to rationalise them."
}