Judiciary changes tack on pending graft cases

Chief Justice David Maraga addresses the Press on the ongoing war on corruption at Milimani Courts, in Nairobi, yesterday. [George Njunge, Standard]

The Judiciary has dropped its defensive stand in the fight against corruption by adopting an elaborate plan to tighten the noose on the vice.

Yesterday’s meeting chaired by Chief Justice David Maraga and comprising leaders of the bench, agreed that the ball was squarely in their court and resolved to rejig their approach to corruption cases.

For a start, more magistrates have been added to the Anti-corruption Court with specific mandate to clear pending cases.

The CJ has also asked magistrates to sit beyond normal court hours to fast-track the cases.

The leaders who comprised President of the Court of Appeal, Principal Judge of the High Court, Principal Judge of the Employment and Labour Relations Court, Presiding Judge of the Environment and Land Courts and all Presiding Judges of Superior Courts, discussed and recommended active case management techniques which will be deployed to fast-track corruption cases.

“All magistrates in anti-corruption court will undergo sensitisation and training in Active Case Management techniques,” a communique read out by President of the Court of Appeal Justice William Ouko said.

And in direct response to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s complaint on Judiciary hampering execution of big infrastructure projects, Judiciary agreed to “take stock of all cases involving infrastructural projects with a view to fast-tracking them.”

Last week, the President publicly challenged CJ Maraga to stop whining in public and deal with the problems in Judiciary. He said he had himself taken the challenge and reformed the executive arms of the justice, law and order sector.

“Between July 2017 and December 2018 a total of 91 corruption cases were determined and out of these, there were 46 convictions. As of today, there are 94 pending corruption cases,” the communique issued by Judiciary yesterday said.

The Judiciary also acknowledged that corruption is a cancer, agreed to check on backlog of cases, embraced judicial accountability and welcome constructive critiques and amenable to constructive engagement with other arms of government.

“It was largely an introspection and stock-taking meeting,” Ouko said of the meeting.

The Judiciary leaders pledged to  to keep the public and stakeholders informed of progress in all matters involving public interest litigation including anti-corruption cases and cases involving major infrastructural projects.

They also blamed the media for getting it wrong on their performance and cases. “The Judiciary will engage with the media to give access to the correct information so that the media can report accurately on matters being handled by our court,” they said.

They also recommended that Maraga uses a meeting scheduled for national Council on Administration of Justice to collectively address the issues hampering the prosecution of anti-corruption cases.

“The issues include the provision of witness statements and failure to avail witnesses; failure to avail expert witnesses and their reports,” they said.