The Judiciary on Tuesday, March 24, announced that it was sending all its employees home following the Coronavirus outbreak.
Making the announcement, Chief Registrar Anne Atieno Amadi, announced that moving forward, all urgent matters would be handled on email.
In a memo sent out to judges across the country, all judicial officers and workers were instructed to keep off court stations across the country.
The chief registrar also announced that notices informing the public of the closure would be displayed on court notice boards across the country.
However, she also stated that the notice would include contacts of two staff members who had been tasked with handling urgent matters on email.
On March 22, Chief Justice David Maraga had announced that the Judiciary would scale down court activities for a period of two weeks.
The CJ had directed that each court should maintain a staff of three individuals, including a court administrator and court assistant to attend to urgent filings and inform the duty judge/magistrate accordingly for necessary action.
This led to a historic occurrence on Tuesday, March 17, when the High Court of Kenya issued the first ruling online with the consent of the parties, as a precautionary measure against the spread of Covid-19.
"In view of the declaration of measures restricting court of operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic and in light of the directions issued by his lordship, the chief justice on March 15, 2020, this ruling has been delivered to the parties online," the ruling reads in part.
A case at the Milimani Law Courts was also heard outdoors on the same day as part of measures meant to control the spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19) in Kenya.
