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{
    "id": 972132,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/972132/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 548,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Godfrey Osotsi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13172,
        "legal_name": "Godfrey Osotsi",
        "slug": "godfrey-osotsi"
    },
    "content": "The biggest problem we have in the Judiciary is the backlog of cases. This Report attempts to propose various solutions of dealing with this problem. One is that they want to focus more on alternative dispute resolution. In the Financial Year 2017/2018 they managed to handle 705 cases valued at Kshs20.8 billion. This tells you that we can do a lot in managing some of these cases, if the Judiciary enhanced the mechanism of alternative dispute resolution. The other issue is non-operationalisation of the Small Claims Court Act, 2016. This was a law supposed to deal with petty cases. According to this Report, this piece of legislation has not been operationalised because there are no rules. Who is supposed to give these rules? It is the same Judiciary. So, why can they not come up with rules to enable them deal with petty cases supposed to be handled under this piece of legislation? Also, on the issue of judges, they are inadequate. The Report says that a country like Germany with a population of 80 million has 20,000 judges. We are almost half the population of Germany which means for us to operate efficiently we need close to 8,000 or 10,000 judges. We are falling short and this has led to a backlog of cases. That is why sometimes we complain about some of the judgements issued. The other issue of concern is human resource within Judiciary. It proposes that they would want to enhance the Judiciary Training School. I want to agree with the Committee that we should not have separate training schools, one for the Judiciary, another one for the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and another one for the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). They should all be integrated because they are related in operation. I think this should be the way to go. The other aspect of human resource is the issue of performance management and measurement which this Report proposes. I hope the Judiciary will move with speed and actualise some of these proposals put in place. This will enhance the quality of judgement and work they dispense. One of the things this Report has not talked about which is serious and needs us look into as a country is the composition of Judicial Service Commission. This is a serious matter because this Commission has 11 members and out of them six are from one community. We cannot have a JSC that does not comply with the laws according to Article 10 of the Constitution. Something has to be done. This is because we will get to a situation where the JSC will call for a meeting, get quorum and conduct the meeting in vernacular. This is a very serious issue. I hope the Chief Justice is listening to this debate and will do something about it. Lastly, even as we talk about inadequate funding of the Judiciary, it has been operating without a substantive finance director. Someone has been acting in that position for four years. Even after doing an interview they have not appointed a substantive finance director. We know a lot happens in terms of finance in the Judiciary. Something needs to be done. I am happy the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs is here and is The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}