Lawyers to blame for delayed cases, says Chief Justice Willy Mutunga

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has blamed lawyers for the slow pace of justice dispensation and warned them against shifting the blame to the Judiciary.

Mutunga said lawyers should take the blame for some of the problems facing the legal profession, key among them being the huge backlog that has seen Kenyans raise questions on the reforms envisaged in the Constitution.

The CJ blamed members of the Bar for misleading the public on the working of the court.
"Lawyers tell lies about the courts, but the court files tell the truth about them," said Mutunga.

He was addressing participants during the the launch of this year's Judiciary Watch report, an annual International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) publication, that seeks to monitor and evaluate emerging rule of law, judicial reforms and administration of justice issues in the country.

This year's publication is titled 'The Legal Profession and The New Constitutional Order in Kenya' and is edited by Prof Yash Pal Ghai and Jill Cottrell Ghai. The book traces Kenya's judicial system's history over the years.

Contradictory remarks

The Judiciary, under the current Chief Justice, has been advocating for alternative dispute resolution mechanisms as a way of addressing case backlogs.

However, lawyers have criticised the Judiciary for unnecessarily delaying cases and inconveniencing their clients.

"There is evidence to show that cases that have legal representation take longer to solve than those that do not. We are now discouraging the granting of numerous adjournments sought by lawyers. It is good to listen to the criticism and we will be answering through our judgments and the reforms going on in the Judiciary," said Mutunga.

His comments were however in contradiction to views raised by some participants who spoke at the event.

Lawyer Paul Mwangi pointed to structural weaknesses in the Judiciary as some of the challenges facing the institution.

He said the various levels of the court system have been operating at odds and that this trend is threatening to erode the public's confidence in the system.

"It is interesting when a case goes to court and subsequently proceeds to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. One can almost predict what the different courts are going to say. It is as if they are in competition," said Mr Mwangi.