Mutunga 'starving' Coast of judicial officers, lawyers say

Lawyers in Mombasa have accused Chief Justice Willy Mutunga of marginalising the region and slowing down dispensation of justice.

The lawyers took on the Chief Justice over the transfer of judges, magistrates and other judicial officers from Mombasa to Nairobi and other parts of Kenya without replacements.

In a letter to Dr Mutunga, the lawyers through their local Law Society of Kenya (LSK) branch accused the CJ of "marginalisation and unfair administration" with regard to staffing at the Coast.

After receiving a blistering letter dated June 15 from Erick Nyongesa Wafula, the Mombasa LSK branch chairman, the CJ only acknowledged its receipt by saying: "I have noted the contents."

This response appears to have angered the LSK branch and the members are now  threatening to boycott courts if the CJ does not address their concerns.

Last evening, the CJ's spokesman Naim Bilal promised to issue a detailed response to the the local LSK's claims, but had not done so by the time of going to the press.

"In this era of transformative justice, we have seen the standards plummet to deplorable levels never seen even during the colonial times," said Nyongesa.

Mombasa lawyers have since January 2013 been agitating for an increase of officers at law courts at the region. They particularity want the number of judges in the Environment and Lands divisions doubled, citing the region's unique history of land conflicts.

Huge backlog

Since late last month, most civil and criminal matters have been adjourned due to lack enough judges and magistrates and the lawyers say the crisis is likely to worsen. They also said that although the Judiciary has sent several temporary judges to the region, this has not eased the backlog of cases at the courts.

Currently there are only two judges at Mombasa High Court — Justices Maureen Odero and Martin Muya — following the recent sacking of Justice Grace Nzioka and transfer of Justices Francis Tuiyot (to Busia) and Edward Mureithi (to Kisii).

Justice Richard Mwongo also left Mombasa for Nairobi after being elected as the president of the High Court late last year, while Justice John Mwera, who was resident judge until early this year was promoted to the Court of Appeal without replacement.

Malindi on the other hand has only one judge, Christine Meoli, who is expected to handle civil and criminal matters in Kilifi, Tana River and Lamu counties.

Monday, LSK said eight magistrates and 59 support staff had been transferred from Mombasa and that only four magistrates and less than 50 per cent of support staff have been replaced.

The lawyers have now given Mutunga 14 days to deploy more judicial officers to the region, failure to which they will boycott court proceedings.