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{
    "id": 590968,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/590968/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 34,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mulu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker for giving me the chance to make my contribution to the Small Claims Court Bill. This is a very important Bill for this country. By all standards, this Bill is long overdue because it is a very important. This is because it provides a very important opportunity to those Kenyans who have challenges in accessing justice in this country. I have looked through the Bill and I find very interesting clauses in it which will go a long way in assisting Kenyans. For example, if you look at Clause 13 of the Bill, you will find that it says that if a claim has been launched with this Small Claims Court, no other court can take over the matter before that case is concluded by that court. This is very important because these courts are going to target the common Kenyans in the villages. It is important that this Clause protects Kenyans who are going to take their cases to the Small Claims Courts. Otherwise, we could have a situation where immediately after the claims are launched in such courts, the lawyers have an opportunity to move these claims from those courts to either the Magistrates Court or the High Court and make it impossible for the villagers to access justice. Another important Clause in this Bill is Clause 20 which talks about how individuals will present their cases to these courts. The Bill says that in a small claims court, individuals will have to represent themselves. You will have to be there personally to present your case. In a situation where you are not there, you could identify a representative but this representative does not have to be a legal practitioner. This means that if my mother is not in a position to present herself, then she can identify somebody within the locality who will not be paid anything to represent her. What does that do? Kenyans who live far from courts can have their matters sorted within the villages and that will make access to justice very cheap in this country. Hon. Speaker, the other important Clause in this Bill is Clause 21. This is a very interesting Clause because it talks about the language that should be used when these courts are in session. The Clause makes provision for use of English, Kiswahili or sign language, but what is very interesting is that you can also use vernacular or mother tongue to present your case. So, the issue of language barrier when people are presenting their cases in courts is going to be done away with. This means that people will present their cases in a language which they understand better. This is very important for this country because Kenyans who are illiterate will have a chance to express themselves without being represented."
}