KWALE, KENYA: A survey by Judiciary reveals that unpreparedness of lawyers, police, and probation officers are main reasons behind case backlogs in courts countrywide.
“Parties being unprepared accounted for 44.78 percent of case delays and courts not being in session (20.22 per cent),” Chief Justice (CJ) Dr. Willy Mutunga.
The CJ said that the soon to be released Survey of Case Backlogs in the Country shows that unpreparedness of probation officers account for 18.34 percent of delays and lawyers (10.93 per cent).
“The Judiciary is also under staffed but managed to reduce case back log from one million to 485,976 countrywide over the past three years alone,” Dr. Mutunga said.
The CJ was delivering a key note address at the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Annual Conference that concluded at the Leisure Lodge Beach and Golf Resort in Kwale, County at the weekend.
The theme of the Conference that attracted over 800 lawyers was The Spirit of the Law: Constitutional Tension between the Three Arms of the Government.
“The survey was to review our (Judiciary) work methods and look into why cases take so long to resolve,” Dr. Mutunga said.
The CJ said that out of the sampled cases, 52.1 per cent had legal representation whereas 47.9 per cent had none.
A whooping 90 per cent of the cases were civil compared to 36 per cent that were criminal in nature.
Dr Mutunga said that cases with legal representation take averagely 274 more days to conclude compared to those without following adjournments applications by lawyers.
“Many adjournments are requested by lawyers who are not ready to proceed citing various reasons,” Dr. Mutunga said.
The CJ said that sluggishness in dispute resolution is not acceptable arguing that the constitution forbids delays in delivery of justice.
“We need more Judges and every county should have an Environment and Land Judge but the law only creates 30 positions leaving a deficit of 17,” Dr. Mutunga said.
The CJ was optimistic that legal representation countrywide would increase following the magnitude of newly admitted advocates.
“Approximately 1,200 advocates were admitted last year and 907 others were sworn into the Bar between January and August this year,” Dr. Mutunga said.
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The CJ said that the Judiciary is at the mid-point of implementing its Transformation Framework 2012-2016 which is a blue print for change.
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