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{
"id": 706514,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/706514/?format=api",
"text_counter": 171,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Kaluma",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 1565,
"legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
"slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
},
"content": "Where other companies are involved, whether private or public, then there is no way you can commit a company to jail. So, for such inanimate bodies, the law is making it clear that you will go for the officers of the company, say, the director of the company who is to blame for that action in contempt. The punishments for criminal contempt are put at very lenient level recognising that while you can deal with contempt in facie curiae like where you assault a judicial officer in the course of proceedings, the judicial officer can intervene and deal with it straight away. Remember, it also states that it is up to a maximum fine of Kshs200,000. This means that the judicial officer, depending on the extent of aberration, can even put it at Kshs10,000 or zero money and leave it at the level of a caution. So, there is a lot of latitude being given in terms of this law. There is the procedure for contempt, more so, contempt in facie curia, contempt in the face of the court or criminal contempt. If I were to call a judicial officer ―stupid‖ in the course of proceedings, whether as an advocate or a party, or if I were just to get into the emotions of the parties as an advocate of a party and assault a judicial officer, how am I to be dealt with? One thing that this Bill says which is very nice is that there would be full salutation with the court to the doctrine of being subjected to due process and then, most importantly, Article 47. Fair administrative action will come into play so that it can be processed. The judicial officer, if it is a subordinate court, this Bill says a very good thing, that you may be thrown into custody for even half a day and the judicial officer has the power to undertake revisions. You can be called back. If you have a challenge, you can go to the High Court and it can intervene in the matter by way of revision in the manner we approach our criminal processes. But in terms of the High Court contempt in the face of the court, the Bill provides also a very beautiful thing that the High Court will have power to review, so that instead of appealing in those grave cases, you can go back to the judicial officer and request the very judicial officer or the very judge of the High Court to have a second look at the decision. If satisfactorily convinced, he or she can either find that there was no contempt or reduce the punishment for it. For once, we have a Bill that is going to assist the legal practice realm and the rule of law implementation in our country in a very big way. We passed various pieces of legislation on the matter of the organisation and administration of the court systems in the country. The Members will remember that we passed the Magistrates’ Courts (Organization and Administration) Act, the High Court (Organisation and Administration) Act and the Court of Appeal (Organisation and Administration) Act a short while ago. We had a lot of agony and Hon. Kang’ata will confirm as to whether within the context of those pieces of legislation, we have to create provisions in terms of contempt. We ended up with a situation in which for each level or type of court, we are creating provisions in terms of contempt. I have, therefore, proposed in our Committee, and I hope the Committee will 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."
}