Judiciary to set up land court in Nanyuki to ease issues on land cases

An Environment and Land (ELC) and Employment and Labour Relations court will soon be set up in Laikipia County.

Judicial Service Commission (JSC) vice chair Mercy Deche said there were many pending land cases in Laikipia, which required speedy address.

Ms Deche spoke in Nanyuki where she led a delegation from the JSC in series of meetings with local leaders, court users and lawyers.

“It appears there are a lot of issues on land that need speedy conclusion, and that is why we urgently need to post an ELC judge here in three months’ time. We will start recruitment of 20 ELC and 20 Industrial Court judges next week and Nanyuki is among the marked areas to post the two specialised judges,” she said.

Other issues deliberated in the forum included establishment of a magistrate's court in Rumuruti, as well as enhancing of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism to hasten delivery of justice.

Residents of far flung areas travel to the Rumuruti mobile court or Nyahururu and Nanyuki law courts to seek justice.

The Rumuruti mobile court is served by Nyahururu law courts, with Ms Deche adding that by the end of this year, JSC would have set up a magistrate’s court locally after Laikipia County pledged to donate land for the same.

“The Judiciary is upgrading the court system across the country by putting up bigger and modern courts to ensure justice is easily accessible,” she said.

A Sh318 million four storey ultra-modern law court complex in Nanyuki, she said, would be complete and ready for use by the end of this year.

“We have disbursed Sh213 million and the structure is almost complete. We expect the court shall be opened by the end of November this year,” said Deche.