Lawyer: Staff shortage derailing justice at Nakuru courthouse
Nakuru lawyer, Bernard Kipkoech Ngetich.
Services at the Nakuru courthouse have been paralysed by a shortage of workers.
Nakuru-based lawyer Bernhard Kipkoech Ngetich has raised the alarm over what he called a slow pace of work at the station, saying this is derailing justice.
Mr Ngetich, of the Gordon Ogolla & Kipkoech Advocates and former Law Society of Kenya Council member, lamented that the work of judges and magistrates was being frustrated by understaffing in the typing room.
Mr Ngetich regretted that the problem, which was raised over a decade ago, was yet to be resolved though the Judiciary has been spending billions of shillings on other less important endeavours.
“We are saddened that the Nakuru Law Courts are said to have one typist at the proceedings section serving over 20 judicial officers. A decade has passed since the problem was diagnosed but the top judicial brass has found no panacea yet it has billions of money for seminars, workshops and retreats that run like emergencies in the league of El Nino,” Mr Ngetich said.
He called on the Judiciary to act on the matter so that Kenyans can get expeditious justice.
Nakuru Presiding Judge Joel Ngugi explained that the station has 13 administrative assistants/secretaries, nine of whom are each assigned to the nine judges for day-to-day typing of court proceedings.
He said two out of the three administrative assistants assigned to the typing pool are away – one was involved in an accident and the other is on maternity leave.
He said he had raised the understaffing issue in the typing pool with the Judicial Service Commission, which promised to deal with it.
“It is patently clear the number of administrative assistants attached to our typing pool is not sufficient to serve the station and communication has been made to the Director of Human Resources and the Chief Registrar of Judiciary. We understand that the JSC is making plans to recruit more assistants in future,” stated Justice Ngugi.
