By Lillian Aluanga-Delvaux
When Risper Amagove recently went to serve court orders in Embakasi, Nairobi, she was not prepared for the reception she got. The orders were on a land dispute between a foreigner of East Asian origin and her business partner. The two fell out and were embroiled in a bitter battle over ownership of the property.
“She started screaming and hurling insults at me and wouldn’t even let me explain my mission. She called the guards and threatened to have me thrown off the property while her dog kept snapping at my feet,” says Ms Amagove.
Although she was afraid, Ms Amagove,40s, knew taking flight would only complicate matters. “I didn’t want to show my fear but stood my ground because I had to ensure the papers were served.”
To date, she is not sure what drove the woman to eventually sign the orders and later appear in court. Her colleague, Boniface Karugi, a process server for seven years, agrees.
As one of only a handful of female process servers in the country, Mrs Amagove is aware of the unique challenges women in the profession face.
“Sometimes there is the danger posed by a rowdy group, especially when serving orders to halt demolitions or stop burials and weddings,” she says. “One can easily be roughed up. There are also times when one has to walk long distances in remote areas to get an individual.”
Then there are instances when those served simply refuse to sign the documents and later allege they were never served. Court Process Servers Society of Kenya Chairman Alexander Alela says there are about 50 women of the 1,300 licensed process servers in the country.
Judiciary’s website
An advertisement on the Judiciary’s website announcing results of interviews conducted in October last year for similar positions is further testament to these statistics. Of the 145 successful candidates, only 15 were women. Alela says the society is keen on pushing for proper legislation to guide the operations of court process servers and, thus, encourage more women to join the profession.
“We had been lobbying for registration of our society since 2004 and only succeeded in 2010, but we are optimistic of a better future,” he says.
But Ms Amagove acknowledges that challenges faced by court process servers often transcend gender. These include intimidation from parties to be served with official court pleadings, summons or court orders, threats of one being forced to tear or eat official court documents, injuries from mobs or groups, exorbitant charges by police where escort is needed, and being denied payment where service has already been rendered.
“Since the terms of payment are often based on a gentleman’s agreement between the client and server, the client can simply refuse to honour an earlier agreement,” says Mr Alela.
Ms Amagove, however, counts herself among the lucky ones, since she works for a law firm. Others – the majority – that work as freelancers on behalf of advocates, law firms, banks and other institutions may find deals struck are not always honoured.
Alela says there is need to train process servers to enable them better understand their role and improve their relationship with the public.
Alela says armed bodyguards often make it difficult to serve orders on such people. A change in the law to allow substituted service through the media has made it easier to get around such manoeuvres. And what about claims of fraud among process servers? Mr Karugi argues that, like in any other profession, impostors are a challenge. “They hang around the courts preying on people,” he says.
“Genuine court process server must properly identify themselves and produce a licence.”
