NAIVASHA, Kenya, Feb 9 – Chief Justice Martha Koome has urged Magistrates and Kadhis to be champions of excellence in their respective courts.
She told the judicial officers that they were “Chief Justices”, leaders and drivers of the Social Transformation Access to Justice (STAJ) vision in their courts and court stations.
The vision is intended to open the doors of justice for all with one of its main focus areas being removing formal, informal and systemic barriers to access to justice.
The CJ urged magistrates and Kadhis to support innovations to improve judicial performance including embracing court-led active management of cases, early identification of issues for resolution and promotion of diversion and alternative avenues for disputes resolution.
She encouraged them to focus on merits of cases and ignore interlocutory/technical applications saying that they delay justice delivery
Speaking at Naivasha Sawela lodge when she officially opened the 5th Magistrates and Kadhis Colloquium, Koome told the judicial officers to strictly apply the no-adjournment policy once matters have been fixed for hearing.
“You should be the “Chief Justices” in your stations and take charge and responsibility in ensuring that your stations excel in case clearance, customer care and handling, and generating unique interventions tailor made to your localities,” she said.
Koome who was accompanied by Deputy Chief Justices, Philomena Mwilu, Director Kenya Judiciary Academy, Smokin Wanjala AND Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, Anne Amadi among other senior officials and development partners asked the judicial officers who included some of the newly appointed Resident Magistrates to improve court performance.
She said every court station will strive to be a Centre of Excellence in the delivery of justice adding that the e idea of Courts of Excellence was in tandem with another central idea in the STAJ vision.
“The Judiciary has made innovation and excellence a key metric and determinant for promotions, appointment to leadership positions and even for appointment to Judgeship,” said the CJ.
She emphasised that Court Returns were crucial in the advents of the era of using data for all operations, the performance management and rewards system.
“Daily Returns are therefore key to the data enabled performance measurement and should be submitted in real time,” she added.
Koome urged the magistrates and kadhis you to embrace and comply with our directives on Daily Returns.
