Eyes on Maraga to speed up resolution of business disputes

President Uhuru Kenyatta has challenged the new Chief Justice to speed up hearing and determination of commercial cases pending in court.

Mr Kenyatta said prolonged business disputes were holding the country back from becoming a preferred investment destination.

“We have been having several round tables with the private sector finding ways on making it easier to do business and one of the things they have pointed out is the lengthy time taken to resolve commercial disputes,” he said Wednesday during the swearing in of Justice David Maraga at Statehouse.

Kenya was ranked position 108 out of 189 countries in the Ease of Doing Business index in last year’s survey of global competitiveness by the World Bank.

According to the report, it takes 465 days to enforce contracts through the court process, an average of 40 days to file and serve documents, 365 days to have the judgment delivered and another 60 days to have the judgement enforced.

A standard land dispute between two local businesses over tenure rights of a property worth 50 times the gross national income (GNI) per capita and located in Nairobi, the report says, takes between two and three years to get resolved without appeal.

The business community has been pushing for better service delivery within the commercial division and has even established the Business Court Users Committee through which they interact with the Judiciary on ways to better resolve disputes.

Data released mid this year showed litigation arising out of bank disputes had locked up some Sh10 billion belonging to Kenyan banks in the past 17 months.

Judiciary data for 2015 shows 660 cases were filed in the commercial and tax division of the High Court in Milimani, Nairobi. About a quarter of these were related to banks with the value of the disputed amounts totalling Sh8.05 billion.

The High Court is currently piloting a mediation programme where new commercial cases are vetted to ensure dispute resolution in just 60 days rather than having to go through a lengthy court process.

Mr Kenyatta also faulted the Judiciary over the issuing of court injunctions that have held up the implementation of several development projects.

“It is becoming a procurement arm for the government. Any dissatisfied contractor who does not get the tender rushes there and is quickly issued with an injunction. We have no problem with that and we respect the judicial process. But if you issue such orders that matter should be quickly resolved to ensure the project does not continue to suffer,” he said.

Justice Maraga said he would focus on improving service delivery to Kenyans, reducing the backlog of cases, automation of court proceedings and elimination of corruption during his tenure.

“I will strive to ensure that the Judiciary delivers value for money to the Kenyan public. Our service is justice. Kenyans must feel the quality and speed of our service and be satisfied with it. This requires continuous improvement and accountability,” he said.