The exodus of magistrates has resulted in a shortage of judicial officers across the country.
The Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi said the shortage has been exacerbated by the reluctance of qualified lawyers to fill up the vacancies advertised recently.
“Although the number of magistrates has risen from 316 in 2010 to 443 in 2016, some 55 magistrates have left in the last three years,” she said.
Of the 66 vacancies that were advertised, only 31 magistrates were hired.
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Ms Amadi said some magistrates could not carry out their duties because they had been declared unfit to serve by the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board (JMVB) but had challenged this decision by lodging appeals.
“Although the current establishment in the Judiciary has 443 magistrates, 31 of those are unable to exercise judicial functions for factors related to pending appeals against JMVB decisions, while nine are on interdiction,” Amadi said.
As a result there are 40 magistrates who are still in the establishment but are unable to serve. Yesterday, the commission recruited 31 new magistrates. Their letters have already been dispatched and they should begin their duties in the next one month.
The new team includes five chief magistrates and 26 senior resident magistrates.
The Judicial Service Commission has proposed to increase the number of magistrates to 550 to be distributed among the 116 courts across the country.
It is estimated that there is one magistrate for 100,000 Kenyans currently.
The deployment of the new magistrates is likely to trigger the transfer of judicial officers to address the backlog of cases.
