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{
"id": 974095,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/974095/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Baringo North, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. William Cheptumo",
"speaker": {
"id": 50,
"legal_name": "William Cheptumo Kipkiror",
"slug": "william-kipkiror"
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"content": "I know I have taken a bit of time, but it is because of the fact that this is a very important area. As I conclude, let me say that as the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, and I will say this in the presence of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, when you talk of allocating money to build houses, you can feel, you can see what the money can do in terms of the number of houses; the allocation and the value. When you allocate money for roads, you can see the roads. When you allocate money to build hospitals, it is clear, but when it comes access to justice, you cannot touch, feel nor see. Unless and until you face a situation where you need to access justice, you will not realise that we need to have enough courts, enough judges and enough magistrates. I just want to say that as much as we want to allocate money to deal with security, which is a critical component in our society, we need to allocate money for housing, industries and health. We equally need to allocate money for the Judiciary, so that we can access justice. After all, even when we have a robust economy, the institution that is able to deal with disputes that make the economy to prosper and move is the court. So, we may want to grow as an economy, but we realise that we are also being suppressed so badly by the fact that our court systems are not working. I have just captured only two areas. The areas of access to justice, funding and jurisprudence have been done very well. Our courts, for the last several years, have set standards and come up with certain positions in law, and we have captured that. In fact, the issue of jurisprudence is captured in a whole chapter of this Report. In the two reports, we have a whole chapter on reports on jurisprudence - what our courts have done over the years. We have been quoted in other jurisdictions. Recently, when Malawi had elections, some people went to court to challenge the presidential results. I was told by a friend who lives there that the Kenyan case; the recent election petition by the National Super Alliance (NASA), was quoted extensively in Malawi. Finally, the results were nullified. What does that mean? This country is a force in the region. All we need to do is to put our house in order. Let us ensure that we do not underfund certain areas which are critical in enabling our economy to flourish. With those remarks, I beg to move. I request the House to adopt these 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 annual Judiciary reports. They are going to help this country if the recommendations of the House are implemented. Their implementation is going to improve our judicial system and we are going to have a better environment for our businessmen and investors. Our unemployed young people will benefit because there will be space for more jobs for them. I beg to move and request Hon. Murugara, a Member of the Committee, to second."
}