Half of Kenya is not served by the crucial court. PHOTO | FILE
An acute shortage of judges is to blame for the backlog of cases
in the Lands and Environment Court amid increased land ownership
disputes in the country.
This is according to Law
Society of Kenya (LSK) Bungoma chapter chairman, Amos Makokha, who
expressed concern at the piling cases while appealing for more judges.
“Clients seeking services in such courts are having a hard time. Some of the cases date back to 15 years,” he said on Tuesday.
Mr
Makokha says the country has only 27 judges handling land and
environment cases, adding that the Judiciary should hire more judges so
that they are can be concluded in good time.
Constitution
The
2010 constitution states that land matters cannot be handled by
magistrate courts but only by gazetted judges in lands and environment
courts.
“Due to lack of enough land judges, you can’t
get a date this year at the Bungoma land and environment court. The only
available date is in March 2018,” he said, adding that the shortage has
delayed justice for aggrieved parties.
His sentiments
echo that of Justice Samson Okong’o, a presiding judge of the
Environment and Land Court, who in July this year said that half of
Kenya is not served by the crucial court.
“The case disposal rate is low, the workload cannot be matched with personnel, clients are frustrated,” said Justice Okong’o.
The
Court of Appeal has also been hit by a shortage of judges with the
Judicial Service Commission (JSC) kicking off the search for eight new
judges in August.
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