Hire enough staff before expanding judicial services

ICT secretary Fred Matiang’i (left) and Kenya Revenue Authority commissioner-general John Njiraini address journalists during International Customs Day celebrations held at Times Towers in Nairobi on Monday. Photo/SALATON NJAU  

Plans to expand the scope of magistrate courts to handle bigger civil cases are welcome and should be supported by all.

The Cabinet last week approved a Bill that seeks to give higher jurisdiction of the lower courts to handle civil matters including civil and labour disputes.

The Magistrates Courts Bill seeks to empower magistrates to arbitrate in disputes involving up to Sh7 million unlike currently when they are restricted to cases not above Sh3 million.

The Bill proposes that cases involving more than Sh 7 million will be handled by the High Court except where the Chief Justice assigns them to lower courts.

The Bill further aims to repeal the present Magistrates Court Act which limits the value of cases handled by chief magistrates to Sh500, 000, principal magistrates Sh300, 000 and resident magistrates Sh100, 000.

The Bill seeks to grant powers to the lower courts to handle disputes on matters such as divorce, maintenance, dowry or pregnancy of unmarried women and violation of human rights including labour rights and succession cases where one dies without a written will.

We believe this Bill is timely and should be approved by Parliament quickly. Access to justice systems has remained out of reach for many Kenyans thanks to a highly centralised structure.

Handing bigger jurisdiction to magistrates’ courts will devolve judicial services to more Kenyans which is good for the country’s growth.

The High Court has for decades been bogged down by a backlog of cases, denying many Kenyans justice. This situation could change tremendously with the proposed law that sits well with devolved governance across the 47 counties.

Taking courts closer to the people will encourage many to pursue their rights and fight injustices in society.

However, the government should undertake adequate preparations to ensure the problem of backlogs is not transferred to the lower courts. Logic would require that we hire adequate staff to serve in the magistrates’ courts or risk getting bogged down by inefficiency.

The Judiciary has recently made major efforts in addressing the challenges of work capacity and hired more staff. Though this is laudable, we believe more can be done to ensure the number of judiciary staff matches the demand of services from the citizenry.

The Treasury should provide sufficient budgetary allocation to support the hiring of judges and magistrates across the country.

The judiciary staff should also be provided with equipment such as vehicles to support mobile court systems as a way or reaching out to more Kenyans.