A lawyer has threatened to sue the Judiciary over frequent adjournments that have resulted in a backlog of cases.
Lawyer Willis Oluga has written to Chief Justice Martha Koome, asking her to take disciplinary action against judicial officers or judges who assign dates to cases and then proceed on leave.
In the letter copied to the Chief Registrar of Judiciary, Oluga also lamented over what he termed as unplanned activities by judicial officers and judges, including training, seminars, colloquia, retreats, workshops, conferences, work plan sessions, annual leaves and other related activities, which he said have massively contributed to the delay in hearing and determination of cases.
"I will seek legal redress on behalf of my clients, court users and the public if the Judiciary does not take action within 14 days," Oluga said.
He added: "If we do not receive a response from you within 14 days from the date you receive this letter in which you will give us your confirmation and undertaking in writing as demanded hereinabove, we will move to court to seek appropriate legal redress."
Against delaying cases
Two weeks ago, Koome warned judges against delaying cases which she said eroded the confidence of court users.
The CJ regretted that despite the judges being facilitated to determine cases in a reasonable time, there was still delay.
She said there was no reason for judges not to comply with the set timelines.
The CJ noted that between 2021 and 2022, there were 521,823 cases pending before the magistrates' court, with 233,177 cases being older than one year.
She said 86,854 cases have been in the court system for over three years.
Oluga noted that in January and early February this year, there was a massive disruption of cases when judicial officers attended a colloquium. "The same thing was repeated in March and early April when all judges of the Employment and Labour Relations Court attended a retreat, and in June when all judges and deputy registrars of the High Court attended a leadership conference."
Rampant adjournments
The lawyer said that analysis of cases has shown that there has been rampant adjournment of cases in the last six months, caused by the absence of judicial officers and judges who are either on leave or attending continuous judicial education programmes.
Oluga noted that Milimani Law Courts, Mombasa and Malindi courts had 409 accumulative days of annual leaves, training, work-plan, seminars and retreats.
He wants the Judiciary to stop approving annual leave and training for any judicial officers or judges unless the same will not occasion any adjournment and administration of justice.
"With effect from the date you receive this letter, the judiciary will ensure all annual leaves and continuous judicial education programmes for judicial officers and judges are organized, executed and undertaken in such a manner that the same do not interfere or conflict with the court diaries, cause adjournment of already scheduled cases or interfere with the general administration of justice," read Oluga's letter.
He said although notices of absence were issued, the notice periods were pretty short, ranging from 47 days to no notice period.
Oluga said such cases are allocated new dates by court assistants, registry clerks or another judicial officer or judge holding briefs for the absent colleague.
