The annual colloquium for Magistrates and Kadhis was inaugurated by Chief Justice Martha Koome on Wednesday after a three-year hiatus.
The meeting was most recently held in early 2020, before the Covid-19 epidemic. According to Koome, the convention offers a forum for exchanging insights from other court stations and addressing new difficulties.
“I recognize that Magistrate and Kadhi Courts are the genuine ‘doorways’ of justice,” she stated, noting that these courts handle 85% of the judiciary’s caseload and the majority of litigants’ interactions with the legal system.
Koome pleaded with the courts to encourage developments that enhance judicial performance.
According to her, this can entail accepting court-led active case management, early issue identification for resolution, encouragement of diversion, and alternate dispute resolution methods. The Chief Justice stated that the Engineer Law Courts’ vulnerable person priority card system has emerged as the benchmark for prompt and customer-focused service delivery.
She argued that after things have been scheduled for hearing, the emphasis should move from interlocutory and technical applications to the cases’ merits, the implementation of a “no adjournment policy,” and the use of technology to improve service.
We are concentrating on getting rid of systemic, formal, and informal barriers to justice, she said. According to Koome, achieving the goal of increasing access to justice requires the court to have a system of justice delivery that is effective, affordable, accessible, swift, and fair.
Clarifying case backlogs and enhancing access to justice by expanding channels for accessing justice are key areas within the judiciary’s mission for social transformation through access to justice, she noted.
By increasing our internal and external complaint procedures and expanding the coordination and synergy of actors within the justice sector, we are also concentrating on boosting public confidence in the justice system, she added.