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{
    "id": 590135,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/590135/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 74,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. A.B. Duale",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": "The importance of this law in terms of providing greater access and speedier administration of justice especially to the poor and the marginalised persons cannot be explained better. People go to great pains with regard to how they access justice. The amount of resources used in law has also become a lot and many people are unable to access justice. Majority of Kenyans are unable to access justice because of their economic status. For that matter, the desire to establish small claims court arises from the frustration associated with the traditional court system which is very slow, expensive, complicated and above all too adversarial to provide litigants with the justice that they desire. The Small Claims Court Bill will deal with the issue of the expensive justice system, the complications that it comes with and the adversarial aspect in terms of giving litigants the justice that they desire. In line with the Constitution, Clause 3 of this Bill provides for the guiding principles to this court as prescribed under Article 159(2) of the Constitution. This clause proposes the adoption of particular procedures that are fundamentally appropriate in ensuring inter alia, a timely disposal of all proceedings before the court using the least expensive method and above all, giving equal opportunity to the access of judicial services. Clause 4 of this Bill is the one that establishes the Small Claims Court as a subordinate court pursuant to Article 169(1) of the Constitution. Sub-clause 2 of the Bill empowers the Chief Justice as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Judiciary by a Gazette notice that he will give, to designate any court station as the Small Claims Court with specific geographical jurisdiction. So, the Small Claims Court is not a court that will be there forever. It is a court that under the discretion of the Chief Justice, through a Gazette notice, can be established in a particular geographical jurisdiction. To ensure effectiveness and in view of the nature of the cases that are expected to be handled by these courts, Clause 5 of this Bill proposes the appointment of an adjudicator. The adjudicator’s function is to preside over the proceedings of that court. As such, an adjudicator must be a person who shall be an advocate of the High Court of Kenya with, at least, five years’ experience in the legal field. So, once the Chief Justice, through a Gazette notice, establishes the Small Claims Court, this is a court that we expect will deal with small issues and small disputes in villages; the kind of disputes that are always handled by our traditional elders. I am happy that one of the senior elders in this House is a man I respect very much. I want to thank FORD (K) for nominating one of the elders to this House. The many disputes that they used to handle are now being made formal so that poor Kenyans in the villages can access justice in a more formal, speedy and less expensive way. Clause 6 of the Bill empowers the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), in line with Article 172(1) of the Constitution, to appoint adjudicators, registrars and other officers of the court as may be deemed necessary. Again, the JSC, as the custodian of all the human resource and the financing of the Judiciary, has been given powers. At any time when the Chief Justice realizes the need for this court in a particular geographical area in the country, he has also been given, under Clause 6, powers to recruit the adjudicators, registrars and any other court official. This is in line with the judicial service officers designated by the Chief Justice to act as adjudicators. Clause 8 of the Bill proposes the qualification of the person to be appointed. I do not want to dwell much on that. Clause 9 talks about the responsibility of the Registrar inter alia; what he is supposed to do, the acceptance, transmission, service and the custody of the documents of this court. Clause 15 proposes parties to the proceedings before the court. 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."
}