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{
"id": 590217,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/590217/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Wakhungu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 1889,
"legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
"slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
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"content": "constituencies we represent. We have issues to do with dowry negotiations and adultery. You realise that those courts have been there since the old days when elders were used to sort out the issues. We have heard that from our brothers from Meru - the Njuri Ncheke . In the Luhya community, we have the Luhya Council of Elders - and I am seated next to the Chairman. So, when those people come in, they will move with speed and resolve those issues. It is said that justice delayed is justice denied. With this Bill coming into practise, it is going to help the poor people who cannot access justice. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, there is the issue of appointment of an adjudicator. In the provision, it says that an adjudicator must be an advocate of the high court with legal experience of five years. When we move to the Committee of the whole House, I am going to bring an amendment to reduce that time-frame. You cannot say that somebody must be an advocate and give the requirement of legal experience of five years. This is not acceptable. When you look at the amount of money we are talking about of Kshs100,000, at least, so long as somebody has qualified from the law school and is an advocate of the high court, he should be allowed immediately to be appointed as an adjudicator. In any case, you have done internship. So, we do not need those five years. Again, in the spirit of employment for the youth, we do not want experience. Once you leave law school, you should be allowed to be appointed as an adjudicator. So, when we move to the Committee of the whole House, I will bring an amendment to the provision for the appointment of the registrar. It says that the registrar must be a qualified advocate of the high court and must have three years of experience. We do not need the requirement of the three years. We are going to bring more amendments so that so that once you have cleared the Kenya School of Law, you can simply be appointed as a registrar. On the issue of the pecuniary jurisdiction of Kshs100,000, many of my colleagues here have talked of increasing it. For now, let us leave it at Kshs100,000, see how the cases are going to be and then afterwards, we can bring an amendment. After all, we are even told that the Chief Justice can exercise discretion. So, we do not need to increase that amount for now. Let it be Kshs100,000. Let us not move to another level and, instead, let us see how it moves on. If there will be need, then based on that empirical study, we can increase it. I have talked about the issue of accessibility and scope. We want to look for a way of incorporating the elders. I have gone through this Bill and I need some guidance with regard to any clause which talks about the elders. That is because some time back, I heard the Chief Justice say that we have some petty claims which the councils of elders in our homes can sort out. I am talking about issues such as dowry and marriage as a whole. We need to see how to incorporate the elders because we know very well from the traditional days that disputes were being sorted out by the elders. However, in this Bill, I have not seen any provision where we can do that integration based on what the Chief Justice had mentioned earlier. I request my honourable colleagues to support this Bill. We should move with speed in order to achieve our target before the lapse of the one-year extension that we sought."
}