Division rocks legal committee over amendment on number of Court of Appeal judges
Kibwezi East MP Mutuse Mwengi, a member of Public Accounts Committee during the session at Parliament Buildings on July 24, 2023.
What you need to know:
- The committee had proposed to cap the number of Court of Appeal Judges to 45.
- The amendment was withdrawn by vice chairperson Mwengi Mutuse and the number is now capped at 70.
Division has rocked the National Assembly Justice and Legal Affairs Committee over a proposal to increase the number of Court of Appeal Judges to 70.
The committee in its report on the consideration of the Miscellaneous Amendment Bill, 2022 had proposed to cap the number of Court of Appeal Judges to 45 but the amendment was withdrawn by vice chairperson Mwengi Mutuse (Kibwezi West) and the number is now capped at 70
The MP said the amendment was dropped after consultation and it was done for the greater interest of the country and justice.
Mr Mutuse told the Nation that there were consultations both within the committee and the floor of the House over the withdrawal of the committee amendments.
“We considered a lot of things such as caseloads, pending cases, cases that one judge is supposed to handle and many other factors,” Mr Mutuse said.
He clarified that the 70 judges are not going to be employed but every financial year depending on the availability of budget and the need in the Judiciary.
Number of judges
However, a section of the committee disagreed with the vice chairman saying they consulted and debated amongst themselves and reached a consensus to cap the number at 45.
The lawmakers of the committee opposed to the changes termed the dropping of the committee as a tragedy expressing fears that there was direction from other quarters who were pushing for the capping of the number of judges to 70 and 45 as the committee had recommended.
According to sources in the committee, there was a heated debate amongst members of the committee regarding dropping of the amendments with other MPs claiming the committee is becoming irrelevant by day.
“I thought the committee consulted, debated and agreed on the amendment. Drooping it on the floor is a tragedy. It seems sitting in the committee is a waste of time,” said a member of the committee.
Mr Mutuse however said it was going to be exercise in futility if the committee had moved its amendments saying there was already consultations between the majority and minority leaders and they agreed to cap the number at 70
“Sometimes you have to look at the mood of the House. Our amendment was going to be overturned by the House because the majority and minority leaders had agreed and they had the numbers,” Mr Mutuse said.
Budgetary consideration
However, those who supported the dropping of the committee amendment argued that in as much as they were trying to help the government by proposing a fewer number of Court of Appeal judges, it is the same government that is comfortable with the higher number that the house finally adopted.
In addition, the proponents of the amendments to cap the number of Court of Appeal judges to 70 also argued that it is normal for committee amendments to be dropped after consultations and that the increase in the number would mean that the appeals in the courts will now be considered faster
The Committee pointed out that since the Bill is a government sponsored Bill introduced by the leader of the majority after obtaining approval from the cabinet, the budgetary consideration relating to the proposal must have been factored into the approval.
In its report on the consideration of the Bill, the committee observed that increasing the number of Court of Appeal judges by more than 133 percent would not be justifiable in the current economic climate without a proper urgent justification
“As a compromise, the committee would be open to increasing the number of the Court of Appeal Judges to a maximum of 45. This represents 50 percent of the current number that can be appointed to the Court of Appeal,” reads the committee report.
“The increment takes into account the current caseload of the court and the fact that the court establishes panels of three judges per matter. The committee noted that to further reduce case backlog, the court would need to be more efficient and leverage on technology,” further reads the report.
The move by the MPs saw section 7 (1) of the Judicature Act which had limited the number of Court of Appeal to 30 but not fewer than 12, amended to increase the limit to 70 judges following the passage of the Bill.
