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{
    "id": 665063,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/665063/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 311,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Musila",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 94,
        "legal_name": "David Musila",
        "slug": "david-musila"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important Motion. On the onset, I support it. I take this opportunity to congratulate the Chief Justice who is retiring today. As the Senator for Kitui County, I am proud to be the Senator of this gallant Kenyan. We all remember about five years ago when the hon. (Dr.) Willy Mutunga took office because we were around. When he took office, the Judiciary was in shambles, riddled with corruption and many ills. It had a backlog of cases, some lasting many years unheard and a closed Judiciary where no one was expected to be heard or be near a judge. All this has changed given that within a period of five years, with a rotten Judiciary as it was, certainly, things cannot be 100 per cent as of now. Yesterday, the outgoing Chief Justice outlined what he has been able to do. I was impressed because training has been given priority within the Judiciary during his time and improved remuneration of judges and other staff of the Judiciary. I mentioned about the issue of open courts. For the first time, Justice Mutunga made it possible to have an open day for the courts where people could go and be educated on the procedures that are followed in the court system. This is history because it has never been done before. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, he mentioned the issue of reducing the backlog of cases from an estimated 1 million pending cases when he took over to over 400,000 cases. The numbers of judges that have been increased since Justice Mutunga took office are there for everyone to see. For the first time in the history of the Judiciary, people are able to access the High Court within their areas, particularly, areas that had been marginalized and which could not access a High Court judge. Today, nearly all the 47 counties have judges. Therefore, I give him credit. If we are lucky to get another Chief Justice of the same mind, in a short while, this country will be proud of its Judiciary. There is no doubt that there have been challenges. Corruption within the Judiciary has always been there. You recall that there was the so called ‘surgery’ which was ordered by Sen. Murungi when he was Minister for Justice. It was a cosmetic surgery The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}