Judiciary responds to complaints from LSK Mombasa branch

Nairobi, Kenya: The Law Society of Kenya Mombasa Branch had raised a number of issues with respect to dispensation of justice by courts in the region. The complaints range from shortage of manpower, trainings for judicial officers to general administration and access to justice.

The judiciary in its letter to newsrooms has stated that they deploy manpower across the Judiciary guided by specific considerations such as caseload in court stations, the size of the population served and the constitutional requirement to take justice closer to the people. A guiding principle in staff deployment policy is equity. It is important to point out that the Judiciary continues to suffer a dearth of judicial officers and staff to meet the needs of the country. In the case of Mombasa, it is incorrect to allege discrimination when one considers that the station has five judges with a caseload of 10,423 matters, while the Milimani High Court Civil Division alone has five judges dealing with a caseload of 32,000 matters. Contrary to LSK’s assertion that Mombasa does not have a Deputy Registrar, the correct position is that a Deputy Registrar is in-post in Mombasa and a new one reports in two weeks’ time.