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{
"id": 590227,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/590227/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. (Prof.) Nyikal",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 434,
"legal_name": "James Nyikal",
"slug": "james-nyikal"
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"content": "the courts being far away from them. Lack of finance has also made many of our people miss justice. Justice has eluded them because they cannot afford it. The other aspect is flexibility. Throughout the Bill, you find a lot of areas of flexibility that makes it much easier for justice to be administered. Simplicity and doing away with technicalities will make justice accessible. Those of us who are well informed abhor going to court basically because of the technical issues, the time limits and the processes involved. This Bill seems to have taken care of all those aspects. Finally, it is also extremely friendly. Therefore, this Bill brings out what the Constitution intended in Article 48 when it says that the State will ensure access and even look at the issue of the expenses that are involved. This Bill addresses the majority of our people who cannot access justice. In many instances, people in the rural areas let issues pass because the courts are located too far from where they live and, therefore, too expensive to pursue justice. In this case, the principles that are involved are extremely important: Timely disposal of cases, equal opportunity of access, fairness and, more particularly, simplicity of procedure. Those are extremely important principles. Many of my colleagues have argued that the requirements for one to be appointed as an adjudicator are too strict. In my view, when you forego a lot of technicalities and make matters simpler, you require people who are extremely experienced in any profession. We need people with a lot of experience and good judgement – people who will understand the intricacies that are involved. Therefore, I do not find any problem with the requirements that have been indicated. In any case, it is indicated that the adjudicator can be a part time or full time employee, which means that we will be able to access adjudicators from one court or the other. I like this Bill because it provides for records and registries and proper administration of the whole process, so that the envisaged simplicity, easy access and low cost of justice does not, in any way, compromise the quality of justice. Part III of the Bill is on jurisdiction, which will be cascaded to the county level. I look forward to my sub-county of Seme having a court in Kombewa to deal with the issues affecting people on their everyday lives. In the areas of jurisdiction, supplies of goods are what people fight about in the rural areas. They fight over small contracts, exchange of monies and personal injuries – which would, otherwise, require that people fill P3 Forms and embark on a long process with financial implications in making claims. So, this provision is very important. The limit of Ksh100,000 is acceptable, particularly the provision that the Chief Justice can actually advise. Importantly, under Clause13, the small claims courts have been protected. Therefore, once processes are before it, nobody can go to a higher court until those processes are completed. This is to ensure that the work of the small claims courts is not frustrated. There is the likelihood of such tendencies to emerge, particularly in favour of those who can afford expensive cases. On the definition of who should benefit from those courts, it has to be a resident of the local area. The incidents need to have taken place in the local place. Therefore, again, I find this acceptable. Who really makes the claim? We do not want complex cases where people turn themselves into corporate entities and you have to unveil them to know who is behind the corporate activity. In this case, the complainants are simply a natural person who will have their claims. In case of them having problems explaining themselves, we have provided for representatives - although it has been claimed that the representative needs to be defined. I agree that it is extremely important that those who cannot express themselves properly should have justice through representatives. 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."
}