Maraga: Judiciary is not divided

Chief Justice David Maraga has defended the judiciary and denied it has been divided as a result of politics.

No judicial officer, he says, is allied to any political outfit.

“I have not heard anything of that kind (division in the judiciary over politics), the judiciary is non-political,” said Justice Maraga on the sidelines of the annual judges’ colloquium at Sarova Whitesands in Mombasa.

The CJ said that the judiciary will deal with cases brought before it without causing ‘problems’ for the IEBC.

On judiciary transformational agenda, the CJ said they are focusing on service delivery.

PREPARED

“We are also seriously trying to digitize court records and clear cases that are more than five years old,” said Justice Maraga.

He reiterated Deputy CJ Philomena Mwilu’s sentiments that the judiciary is prepared to hear election petitions which they anticipate will be many.

“We are prepared to handle the petitions and complete hearing them in accordance to the period set in the Constitution,” he said.

He said judicial officers have undergone refresher courses to evaluate issues that they dealt with in the past and those that are likely to come up and how to handle them.

Responding to some of the topics already discussed during the colloquium, the CJ said transgender persons in the country have rights which they ought to enjoy.

AGENDA

The judges’ colloquium is organised by the Judiciary Training Institute (JTI) and is usually held in August but has been pushed to this week due to the coming General Election.

The theme of the colloquium is “Introspection and Sharing Experiences: Sustaining Judicial Transformation in a Digital Environment and Electioneering Period”.

Emerging jurisprudence on reproductive human rights, thoughts on transgender and intersex issues and election technology law are some of the topics that the judges are expected to deliberate during the week-long conference.