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{
    "id": 974106,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/974106/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 654,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Odhiambo-Mabona",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 376,
        "legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
        "slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
    },
    "content": "Because of time, I will try to be very brief and just note that based on what the Committee has said, it has focused a lot on the issue of corruption. I know there was a time there was a purge in the Judiciary which restored a lot of confidence. However, increased cases of corruption are still being reported in the Judiciary. We need to sort these issues for the public to have confidence in the Judiciary especially during the trying times both in the Executive and Parliament. When public confidence in both institutions is not very high, you would, at least, need one of the arms of the Government where the public has a lot of confidence. I remember when we had Justice Mumbi in charge of the Human Rights Court people had a lot of confidence in that court. I am not saying that the judge who is there now is not doing any good job, but we had judges who were very brave. That is something I can talk about and not just the issue of independence, but jurisprudence that I have alluded to. For us to get solid jurisprudence in Kenya that people are emulating including Malawi, it speaks to the independence of the Judiciary. That is why, as Parliament, we must make sure that we do everything possible to shield the Judiciary especially through budgetary allocation. I sit in the Budget and Appropriations Committee and this is something we have had to discuss as a Committee and we bravely made certain provisions. However, we have challenges sometimes when you come to the Floor of the House and the amendments are made that take back the kind of brave steps that we had taken as a Committee. I would want to encourage the House that we need to be brave enough to give the Judiciary the confidence it needs because part of that independence is that it has its own allocation. That is part of the reason even Parliament agitated for its own funds. This is because if you do not have independent funds, it becomes very difficult to be independent especially when you rely on another arm of Government and you are being given a provision like Panadol. We do not want a situation where the Chief Justice and the other judicial officers that we should be having confidence in, are complaining before the public that they are not being treated well. I want to confirm that one of the 23 courts that the Mover mentioned that have not been completed is the Mbita Law Courts. Currently, the courts that are serving Mbita are mobile and are using the probation office which is right next to my parents’ home. The actual court should be in Mbita Town. There is wear and tear, which means a lot of the money that has been put into it is going to waste. I would want to urge that, as a House, we need to be brave enough and complete the 23 courts, so that we can enhance access to justice. You can see the immediacy in terms of access to justice because cases of insecurity are on the rise in my constituency which has been a haven of peace. Sometimes when my colleagues visit my constituency, they cannot believe that you can find cattle just lying on the roads yet nobody is bothered to steal them. However, cases of insecurity are now on the rise and our courts do not have the capacity to deal with them. The cases of sexual and gender-based violence are also on the rise. We need the courts to host judges and magistrates that are of higher jurisdiction. I also want to speak about the issue of backlog. Unless we, as a Parliament, give the resources, then we will not deal with the backlog. Justice delayed is justice denied. One of the things that I have noticed in the Report is that it focused on the issue of institutional capacity in the first financial year. In the next phase, it has focused on service delivery, which is a good thing. However, I want to encourage us not to lose sight of the institutional capacity which entails building the capacity of judicial officers. There are growing concerns about the decisions that are emanating from the courts, especially in relation to child custody that seems not to 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."
}