Maraga legacy: A new deal for Judiciary

When history is written about outgoing Chief Justice David Maraga, two decisions he made will always standout: Being a member of the majority that nullified the presidential election in 2017 and his bold move to recommend to President Uhuru Kenyatta the dissolution of Parliament.

Yet when he was appointed to head the Judiciary in 2016, Mr Maraga’s strategic blueprint – “Sustaining Judiciary Transformation: A Service Delivery Agenda,”, was devoted to the nuts and bolts of service.

He called the plan “A New Deal from the Judiciary”.

“The real transformation of the Judiciary will only be achieved if the citizen experiences a qualitative difference in the services we offer,” the Chief Justice said in the blueprint.

That New Deal from the Judiciary was anchored on six pillars– automation, digitisation and improvement of work methods, making development systems operational, enhancing individual accountability, enhancing institution accountability, entrenching performance measurement, monitoring and evaluation, and entrenching policies and manuals already developed.

Four years after he was appointed Chief Justice, Mr Maraga begins his terminal leave today, pending retirement on January 12.

While his role in annulling the presidential election and recommending the dissolution of Parliament stand out as his significant moments as the head of the Judiciary, it is in the extent of implementation of the Sustaining Judiciary Transformation (SJT) that will cement Mr Maraga’s legacy.

Terrorism

Mr Maraga officially opened Kahawa law courts yesterday, a special facility at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison that will exclusively try transnational organised crimes like terrorism, trophy and human trafficking.

This was the 22nd court the Chief Justice was opening in his tenure and the last official assignment before taking the terminal leave.

The man, who has been the chairman of the National Council of Administration, said the opening of the court is a milestone in service to humanity.

“This is my last function as the Chief Justice of Kenya and I am greatly honoured to be here,” Mr Maraga, who was accompanied by his deputy Philomena Mwilu, said. 

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“This project gives me a lot of joy not only for its uniqueness but also the extensive collaboration with development partners to create such a model that follows the success of Shanzu court launched 10 years ago, which is attached to Shimo la Tewa Prison in Mombasa and has demonstrated great efficiency in handling similar cases.”

Alternative mechanism

The court was built with support from United States and United Kingdom governments.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime was the implementing partner.

According to Mr Peter Wanyama – a lawyer – Chief Justice Maraga’s scorecard is balanced.

“The Executive arm of the government was overbearing but Mr Maraga would often speak out in the defence of the independence of the Judiciary and judges, even though he at times appeared to succumb to pressure,” Mr Wanyama said.

During the presentation of the State of the Judiciary and Administration Justice Report (SOJAR) on November 27, Mr Maraga enumerated his achievements against the goals he had set for himself “in spite of barricades placed in our path”.

“On every metric of service, our performance has been on an upswing – jurisprudence, access to justice, case backlog reduction, enhanced integrity, court infrastructure, technology, staff welfare, accountability, public outreach and so on,” the Chief Justice said.

According to the SOJAR, cases older than five years have dropped from a high of 170,186 in the 2015/16 financial year when Mr Maraga became Chief Justice to 35,359 by the end of June 2020, a 79 per cent decline.

At the same time, the case clearance rate has risen to 86 per cent in the 2019/20 financial year.

While the Judiciary made important leaps in harnessing technology, the coronavirus pandemic accelerated the move to virtual courts.

The Judiciary took the decision to fight the pandemic by scaling down face-to-face court operations.

At the beginning, the virtual courts suffered technology glitches and systemic challenges, including staff not being familiar with the use of the tools.

In the SOJAR and Mr Maraga’s speech, technology uptake by the Judiciary is necessary as that will enhance convenience and boost efficiency and transparency.

Besides the virtual courts, the Judiciary recently introduced the electronic filing system.

The system runs in all courts in Nairobi region.

One can register a case through the e-filing system.

There is an automated court fees assessment module, e-service to the parties and online payment systems.

“More than 200,000 matters have since been filed through the system, which also facilitated the collection of at least Sh250 million in court fees,” the Judiciary said in the annual report.

Paper files

The report added that the Judiciary intends to convert the old paper files into digital format as it transitions to the virtual registries.

The e-filing system was accompanied with the case tracking system.

“Connecting our courts to a stable and reliable internet has been a significant and primary objective since this forms the basis for other technology-based strategies for service,” Mr Maraga said as he outlined his achievements.

“At the start of SJT in 2017, only 34 courts were connected to the internet. Over the last four years, the number has grown to 147. This has enabled the Judiciary to implement a number of solutions, especially during this period of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Chief Justice Maraga also enumerated the expansion of the Alternative forms of Dispute Resolution (ADR), including through the implementation of THE Court Annexed Mediation (CAM) programme.

According to the CJ, some 3,540 matters (with a total estimated value of Sh13.5 billion) were referred to mediation, with 1,077 being settled successfully.

In addition, an estimated 3,000 cases are referred to the programme annually and about Sh11.5 billion tied up in litigation released to the economy through this initiative.

“The Judiciary is in the process of making operational the small claims courts, which are meant to ensure faster disposal of matters whose value is below Sh1 million,”  he said. 

“It is expected that a significant number of cases will be disposed of through this initiative.”

But the four years have not been easy,  he admitted.

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