By Robert Nyasato

The seven-day stand off between advocates and two High Court judges sitting in Kisii over backlog of cases heightened with the protesting lawyers demanding their immediate replacement.

The advocates through the Law Society of Kenya(LSK) yesterday said they would not relent on their demand to the Chief Justice Willy Mutunga to remove Justices Ruth Sitati and Roseline Korir.

About 100 lawyers practising in Kisii downed tools on July 9, this year in a bid to press for removal of the embattled judges leaving litigants suffering as the strike entered its seventh day yesterday.

In an interview with The Standard LSK, Kisii Chapter Secretary Gideon Nyambati said the strike will only be called off when the two judges are transferred.

“The CJ has responded to our concerns by scheduling a meeting with LSK Council over the impasse but our demand is very clear and we shall only resume if the judges are removed,” Nyambati said.

A spot check revealed that the two court rooms presided over by Justices Sitati and Korir remained deserted with litigants walking in and out of the court without being attended to.

Earlier, Deputy High Court Registrar Kakai Kissinger said the judiciary was aware of the backlog of cases throughout the country noting Kisii was not an exception.

He revealed that the Judicial Service Commission(JSC) was in the process of recruiting additional 106 judges to address the issue.

“We would like to appeal to our lawyers and stakeholders in Kisii to be patient as the judiciary addresses the problem of case backlog,” Kissinger offered.

The registrar observed that there was no need of striking because that would make a bad situation worse noting: “We have similar situations in Bungoma and elsewhere but lawyers have not gone on strike.”

The advocates are accusing the judges of failure to dispense justice expeditiously. Another issue raised by the protesting lawyers is too much absenteesm on the side of the judges which is not explained.

“No advocate within Kisii and from other branches will be allowed to appear or prosecute any matter before any of the two judges sitting in Kisii until they have been transferred,” read part of the notice signed by LSK, Kisii Chapter Chairman Momanyi Aunga.

In an earlier letter to the CJ, the advocates lamented that the two judges were overwhelmed with over 3000 cases pending trail and over 400 ruling and judgments some dating back to august last year.

The lawyers are also bitter that the gender balance rule has been comprised in the administration of justice with all the four mangers of the court affairs being ladies including Jutices Sitati, Lagat, Chief Magistrate Ann Ong’icho and the Deputy Registrar Lucy Kaithanyi.

Initially three judges all ladies were posted to Kisii when Justice Daniel Musinga and Justice Asike Makhandia were transferred but only two reported.

The Kisii High Court covers a vast jurisdiction including Kisii, Migori, Homa Bay and Nyamira counties and parts of Narok County.

Most affected are land dispute cases which have been blamed for rising cases of murder, injunctions under certificate of urgency and interim orders to preserve property.

According to the lawyers, Nakuru High Court in smaller but four judges were posted there and they are now questing the criteria used in deploying them if the not the case backlog.

Two months ago, another strike by the lawyers to boycott the judges failed to materialize after they were persuaded to a dialogue to resolve the impasse over delayed justice.

The lawyers boycott triggered another strike by over 300 murder suspects at the Kisii GK Prison who complained that their cases were taking too long to be heard and determined.They however called off their hunger strike after they were addressed by Ong’icho who promised to follow up on their grievances.