Lamu, KENYA: The Judiciary Service Commission-JSC is set to establish a High court station in Lamu county in order to bring its services closer to wananchi,Chief Justice David Maraga has said.
Speaking when he officially inaugurated the Mpeketoni law courts on Monday,Maraga said the objective of setting up High court stations all over the country, was to ensure Kenyans seeking justice can easily access the required services in a manner that speeds up the exercise.
So far, only eight counties are without High Court stations. The law requires the Judiciary to establish a High Court station in each of the 47 counties.
Maraga is on a three-day visit of court stations in Coast region whose highlight will be the opening of a new High Court station in Garsen, Tana River County.
The CJ said his mission was to ensure all backlogs and other cases that have been pending for decades in various courts in the country; are dealt with in due time in order to pave way for timely smooth operations in the Judiciary.
Maraga lauded Lamu magistrates for their efforts which he termed impressive in addressing and resolving court cases on time.
He said as such,there were no backlogs in the Lamu courts and urged other magistrates and judges to emulate the trend.
“ The JSC pans to set up atleast 290 High court stations all over the country in a move to deal with the pile up of court cases that need the court’s intervention.Am however touched by the workmanship of courts in Mpeketoni.There are no backlogs and that is impressive.its the spirit needed to boost the Judiciary efforts,”said Maraga.
The Mpeketoni court which began fully-fledged operations in June 2016 was previously operated as a mobile court covering vast areas of the Lamu mainland.
“ Only 65 cases out of 500 had not been ruled by close of 2016.Thats quite an achievement,”he said.
Earlier on,the CJ inspected the Lamu law courts and also met with Lamu governor Issa Timamy where they discussed future court expansion plans.
The CJ also revealed he had engaged in talks with governor Timamy and that the county had already set aside 3 acres of land at Mokowe area as a site for the establishment of the Lamu High court.
Lamu governor Issa Timamy who was also in attendance lauded the CJ for his efforts and pledged that the county would lend the required cooperation with the Judiciary and all other arms of government in order to ensure the success of Lamu.
Timamy said the inauguration of the Mpeketoni law courts had ushered in a ray of hope for residents especially those from Witu and Mpeketoni who have previously had trouble dealing with their cases in Lamu town.
“People will now have their cases addressed just where they are or atleast closer to them than before.We urge that the JSC speeds up the setting up of the high court in Mokowe to make things even better,”said Timamy.
Justice Maraga will on Wednesday address a forum for heads of court stations from across the country in Mombasa. The forum will discuss the new Judiciary transformation agenda for service delivery.
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