Summary
- Trade disputes valued Sh38 billion in courts are denying Kenyans jobs and derailing business opportunities that would have generated taxes for national development.
- A report by the Court Annexed Mediation (CAM) Committee reveals that 16.7 percent of civil suits referred to mediation since 2016, valued Sh7.4 billion, were concluded after parties settled disputes amicably allowing projects and contracts to continue to fruition.
- The regions implementing mediation were Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Machakos, Garissa, Embu, Kakamega, Kisii, Malindi and Nyamira.
Trade disputes valued Sh38 billion in courts are denying Kenyans
jobs and derailing business opportunities that would have generated
taxes for national development.
A report by the Court
Annexed Mediation (CAM) Committee reveals that 16.7 percent of civil
suits referred to mediation since 2016, valued Sh7.4 billion, were
concluded after parties settled disputes amicably allowing projects and
contracts to continue to fruition.
The regions
implementing mediation were Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret, Kisumu, Nakuru,
Nyeri, Machakos, Garissa, Embu, Kakamega, Kisii, Malindi and Nyamira.
The
2019 report said 650 arbitrators under judiciary’s payroll were
available to handle matters giving litigants an opportunity to negotiate
for settlement of disputes at nominal cost.
“As at
October 3, the seven Courts/Divisions in Nairobi referred 1,941 matters
for mediation where 1,542 were concluded and 725 matters settled,” it
says.
Regional courts also reported referring 1,828 matters for
mediation where 1,206 were concluded and 640 matters marked as settled.
As
parties wrangle and lawyers earn representative and appearance fees,
the CAM committee has proposed expansion of the arbitration jurisdiction
to 11 more regional courts to complement the work done by the inaugural
CAM centres.
It added the roll-out will largely depend
on funds’ availability to remunerate mediators, activate CAM registries
as well as train judges, judicial officers and staff on the mediation
processes.
Under CAM, all civil disputes registered
before court must first be set to CAM registries where the documents
will be scrutinised by a judicial officer and a decision made on
suitability of cases to be referred either to the courts or to the
arbitration panels.
“We need adequate staff to process,
screen, capture CAM events in data systems and availability of an
efficient court-based monitoring of mediation process to ensure
quality,” it said.
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