Kenya CJ vows to clear case backlog in 6 months

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga came into office with impossibly high expectations weighing upon his shoulders.

He was the first senior appointee to emerge from the very public interview and vetting process prescribed by the Constitution.

His credentials as one of the key figures in the reform movement which helped steer the country to a new constitutional order only served to increase the levels of expectation.

Four months on, Dr Mutunga is gradually delivering on the promise to fundamentally reform the judiciary.

An ambitious recruitment programme has seen the institution infused with a large number of relatively young, progressive judges and magistrates who are expected to help tackle the notorious case backlog while bringing fresh ideas to the institution.

The bench is being brought into the 21st century by the hiring of researchers for judges and the introduction of electronic recording of proceedings.

These changes are not only expected to lead to quicker disposal of cases but also presumably yield better quality judgments and improve the levels of public trust in an institution that underpins the democratic system but which, until recently, was seen as an auxiliary of the executive.

Dr Mutunga told the Sunday Nation in an interview as he marked his first 120 days in office that Kenyans would not have to wait too long to see practical improvements in the institution.

Some of the changes are simple image issues such as the redesign of magistrates’ courts so that the litigants and magistrates will be at the same level in the courtroom in a bid to make courtrooms less intimidating. Others are more substantive:

“We have asked parties in the oldest cases in the High Court and Court of Appeal, some filed as far back as 2004, to take dates within the month so that their matters can be disposed of,” he said.

“Within six months, I expect the Court of Appeal to be handling only fresh applications. I intend to reduce the waiting period for appeal cases from the current average of six years to less than a year.”

Key to that reform process will be the use of technology to introduce a court system that is not only more accountable but also nimble and effective.

Electronic system

“My office and the ICT department are in the process of creating an electronic-based system for monitoring and tracking overdue judgments and rulings with a view to taking remedial action.

“It is the policy of the Judiciary that, once proceedings begin, cases will be heard back-to-back on a first filed, first heard basis. Queuing of cases will take away the incentive for corruption.”

Dr Mutunga said the public will eventually access case information by SMS, a move which would take out the cartels that hoard this information for financial benefit. Judges will also be picked to handle cases through an electronic system.

“Judges of the High Court and the Court of Appeal shall, from now henceforth, be empanelled automatically using computer software that removes the human hand from the choice of those who hear cases. In future, cause lists will not contain the name of the judge, to shield judges from undue influence or being hunted down by litigants.”

These and other changes are expected to gradually restore trust in the judiciary.

Numerous reports on causes of the unrest that followed the last elections have identified low levels of trust in the judiciary as one of the factors that contributed to the crisis after the parties which contested the presidential elections declined to take their dispute before the courts.

Dr Mutunga says it is too early to say whether the judiciary will have won back the confidence of the public by the next elections.

“What we do in the judiciary between now and 2012, the cases that will be handled going forward and other changes we effect will be the building blocks on which public trust will be built.

“Again, this is not a matter for the judiciary alone. Much rests on how politicians conduct themselves, reforms in other institutions and the public, too, has a role to play in peace building efforts.”

Yet the high profile changes in the judiciary have undoubtedly cast the institution as the linchpin of the attempt to reshape the governance system.

The UK’s Financial Times, which is one of the most influential newspapers in shaping the views of investors, last week cited judicial reforms driven by “a long time activist who is promising to shake up one of the main pillars of the corrupt, patronage system that underpins the state” as one cause for hope in the country.

Dr Mutunga’s first four months in office have not passed without controversy. His meeting with President Moi, who has several cases in court, invited strong criticism:

“I confess when I said that Kenyans should not tell me who to meet I sounded extremely arrogant. I apologise to those Kenyans who felt their voices did not count.

“I met Moi because he invited me to tea. Had I refused I know I would have been accused of being unforgiving, having an axe grind against those who worked in regimes that oppressed us.

“I thought of asking him to come to my office and I feared that he may think I was out to humiliate him. The main consideration for me was personal.

“I was taught by my father not to refuse invitations by older people. It may be a generational issue, but had my father been alive he would be the age of President Moi.

“In visiting President Moi, I respected the wisdom of my father. If other generations cannot understand this I cannot blame them. It is the honest truth.

“My discussion with Moi was on national issues. I gave him a book I have written in which I am critical of his rule. He promised to read it and give me his feedback. I enjoyed the goat meat he gave me.”

And, considering the scale of the task he has inherited, does he occasionally find it hard to wake up in the morning wishing he had not entered the fray?

“Yes, all the time. I have felt at times that I should not have left my job at the Ford Foundation where I was a manager.

“However, I am getting to know first hand what building the nation is all about. I am getting to know what national service means. I realise that if I lay a firm foundation for a transformed judiciary I will have played my role.

“And, it is not just about me. It is about all of us in the judiciary. I must say that every day I seeing Kenyans in the Judiciary who have the same vision as mine and that is what keeps me going.”