Koome gazettes new magistrates’ courts in Moiben and Turbo

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 20 – Chief Justice Martha Koome has gazetted two magistrates’ courts in Uasin Gishu in efforts to expand access to justice.

The newly-established courts in Moiben and Turbo will be under the supervisory jurisdiction of the Eldoret High Court, Koome said in a Gazette Notice published on Friday.

The establishment of the two courts is part of an ambitious plan to set up a magistrates’ court in all the 290 constituencies in an effort to make them accessible to the public.

Subordinate courts which include magistrate courts accounted for up to 85 per cent of cases in Kenyan courts in 2023 according to Koome. 

The establishment of the two courts comes months after the Chief Justice inaugurated sixty-nine newly-recruited magistrates, hailing magistrate courts as “people’s courts” and “the face of the justice system”.

“This is so because it is at the Magistrates’ Courts and the Small Claims Courts that the bulk of the cases – be it criminal, traffic or civil cases – that come to the justice system are heard and resolved,” she said during the swearing of new magistrates October 9.

Koome pledged efforts towards the eradication of case backlog and delays, the most common complaint from court users.

“You must work to meet our target of ensuring that no court case stays in a Magistrates Court for more than three (3) years, and no more than sixty (60) days in a Small Claims Court,” she urged new magistrates .

The establishment of additional magistrate courts in part of Judiciary’s expansion plan laid at by Koome’s predecessor Chief Justice (Retired) David Maraga who laid down the vision to have a magistrate court in each of the 290 constituencies.

[By Felix Okara]