Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 590923,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/590923/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 223,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Njomo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1784,
        "legal_name": "Jude L. Kangethe Njomo",
        "slug": "jude-l-kangethe-njomo"
    },
    "content": "Going through the Bill, it is very clear that it provides a medium through which judges will be able to come together, make their decisions together, consult freely and work harmoniously. It is a good Bill. I am saying this because we have had a court system where cases are known to last forever, especially land cases. I know some cases which were filed in the early 1970s and to date they are yet to be mediated upon. With this Bill, our court system will be much faster and many cases will be executed within the required time. Part II deals with assessment of judicial needs. This is a very important thing to do. Part II requires that these needs have to be assessed from time to time. It is like a self-assessment of the court. The court will ask itself whether it is moving in the right direction or not. Today when I go to witness a case in court, I wonder whether the court is moving in the same direction that development in our country is taking. You find judges and magistrates are very busy taking notes. You wonder whether they are listening to the case. In other places, like hospitals, when patients are describing their problems, the doctor does not bother to write. He has a device that records what the patient is saying and a second party is going to take notes and record that. I would expect that to happen with our judicial system so that judges will now be operating from a digital medium where they will be able to pay a lot of attention to what the people are saying in court. I hope with this judicial needs assessment, they will move to a digital age where we shall have a better court management system. Recently, I was sent to Runyenjes on parliamentary duties and we inspected the Runyenjes court. I was totally ashamed to see the kind of court that we have in Runyenjes. It is just a few forms in a store and that is what constitutes it. That is why I welcome this idea of having a judicial needs assessment from time to time so that these things can be taken care of. This Bill also proposes to distribute courts in various parts of the country. This will ease travelling for people who come from remote areas. It will ease their travelling and it will also make it easier for their cases to be expedited. I am sure it will be easier to handle their cases in a language that is easy for them to understand. This is a good Bill. I would not do the right thing if I do not talk about the management of the court and the reorganisation of the registry. One of the things that have been making cases last for long is the loss of files in the registry. This is one of the areas which need to be looked at great length so that cases of files disappearing--- We know that they do not just disappear by themselves but they are made to disappear for good reasons. We should make sure that even if they are physical files, we have digital files that will be very difficult to disappear so that if the physical files disappear, it will be very easy to create other files from the electronic files that will be saved. Justice will then be expedited easily and musicians will not have areas to copy from. This reminds me of Eric Wainaina in a song where he says that justice is on sale and is available to the highest bidder. We do not want that to happen again in our country. We want justice to be available to everybody at no cost at all. The last thing I want to talk about is the ranking of judges. There has been a lot of haggling and favouritism as far as appointment and promotion of judges is concerned. This Bill describes the ranking of judges and it will give everybody an opportunity to rise in a logical sequence. With those few remarks, I support."
}