Chief Justice David Maraga teamed up with Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i to launch the building of eight law courts near various correctional facilities across the country as part of measures to expedite cases involving suspects in remand custody.
Speaking during the ground-breaking ceremony for the Kahawa Law Courts near Kamiti Maximum Prison on Monday, CJ Maraga stated that the courts would increase security for remandees who often travel for long distances to the courts.
The CJ stated: “We deal with quite a number of cases some of which require a lot of security arrangements to be dealt with; we have transnational organised crimes and other serious crimes which also require special arrangements for hearing, therefore, these courts will be helpful in dealing with such.”
He noted that the court will help decongest other courts hence reducing case backlog and expediting the justice process.
On his part, CS Matiangi stated that the construction of the courts came after a directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta in an effort to reform correctional services in the country.
He further revealed that the government would start imposing instant fines for minor traffic offenses to enhance convenience in the judicial process and reduce the number of inmates in prison.
Construction of the Kahawa Law Court was funded from the United States of America through the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime.
“This facility is very crucial transnational organized crimes such as terrorism and drug trafficking which are a threat to both the United States and the Kenyan governments our collaboration is therefore very important in dealing with these crimes,” Stacy de la Torre who represented the UN office remarked.
This was the second court to be constructed next to a prison after the Shanzu Law Court which was built next to Shimo La Tewa Prison.
The land where the Kahawa court will be constructed was provided by the government with the completion expected to take between eight and 12 months.
