Courts should forthwith stop jailing people who cannot pay their debts

Civil jail is unconscionable and a shameful waste of resources. It criminalises poverty and violates the Bill of Rights and safeguards for a fair trial. It violates Article 11 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Kenya acceded to on May 1, 1972.

ARTICLE 11 STATES: “NO ONE SHALL BE IMP-risoned merely on the ground of inability to fulfil a contractual obligation.”

Jackton Ojwang’, a High Court judge, suggests that the law on civil contempt should be reformed.

In Dima v Arid Lands Resources Exploitation & Development, where one of the parties urged civil jail — which he rejected — he argued that courts should not resort to civil contempt where there are other methods of doing justice.

He copied his judgment to the attorney-general and chairman of the Kenya Law Reform Commission “to apprise them of the unsatisfactory state of the law relating to the exercise of the contempt jurisdiction of the courts in Kenya”.

That was on January 28, 2005 — two months before Mr Cherop applied to be released from civil jail on the ground of poor health — but it has remained business as usual.

gigirimwaura@yahoo.com