AudiencScapes

A new project uses video conferencing to streamline Kenya’s judiciary system. Kenya’s courts suffer from a high case backlog and judge shortage. As a result of these problems, some litigants languish for 10 years in crowded prisons.

By Dinfin Mulupi

Nairobi, Kenya -- A huge backlog of cases is clogging the wheels of justice in Kenya. It’s not unusual for court cases to last several years, even a decade. This delay creates many problems, including prison overcrowding, as litigants wait for the conclusion of their trial.

A new project holds promise for eliminating the backlog of cases and improving operations in Kenya’s judiciary system. Currently in pilot phase, it uses video-conference technology to connect court of appeal judges sitting in Kenya’s capital Nairobi with the Mombasa court. Cisco is providing high-definition “telepresence” video on both ends while Safaricom provides a high-speed broadband link between Mombasa and Nairobi.

 Slow Justice

The acute shortage of judges been blamed for the high number of pending cases. In a system that processes tens of thousands of cases a year, there are only 275 magistrates and 29 judges. Currently, there are only 11 judges on Kenya’s Court of Appeal. As the court is based in Nairobi, they have to travel to courts in Eldoret (300 km), Kisumu (264 km), Mombasa (530 km) and Nyeri (160km) to preside over cases.

Research released earlier this year by the Federation of Women Lawyers (Kenya chapter) found that nearly a million cases are pending before Kenya’s courts. The survey, conducted between February and March 2010, also revealed that the oldest unresolved case was 26 years old.

“The oldest reported case was filed in 1984 and by the time we were concluding this study it had not yet been resolved. Others are 10 years old and there are hundreds of thousands of court cases, especially those dealing with accidents, that are still pending,” said the lead researcher, University of Nairobi lecturer Beneah Mutsotso, during a media briefing.

An article published earlier this year reported that most prisons hold two to three times the number of prisoners more than they should. It noted that King’ong’o Prison in Nyeri has 1,700 inmates yet has a capacity of 600, while Kakamega Prison has 900 inmates with a capacity of 500.

Benefits of Telepresence

The hope is that the telepresence project will accelerate the processing of cases and save taxpayer money. The Ministry of Information Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo, whose ministry is coordinating the project, said that, in addition to achieving the speedy delivery of justice, the telepresence project will reduce the cost of travel, boarding and security expenses. Once rolled out countrywide, it will mean judges and magistrates will no longer have to crisscross the country to conduct sittings, hence saving time and money.

According to Law Society of Kenya Chairman Kenneth Akide, the project will tackle one of the biggest challenges the judiciary has faced: that of a shortage of judges and magistrates. By eliminating the need to hire more personnel to address the shortage, the project will save additional funds that would have been spent on salaries.

Akide also believes the telepresence project will guarantee citizens a fair hearing by leaving little opportunity for the manipulation of court documents. “With the digitization of court files, we will also eliminate the corruption that has always led to the mysterious disappearing of court files, hence delaying trials,” said Akide.

Linking Lower Courts and Prisons

The government intends to replicate the teleconferencing project in lower courts and plans are ongoing to link prisons with the courts.

“We are using the Courts of Appeal as a pilot scheme but intend to scale this to include lower courts and even the prisons. This should result in faster determination of cases,” said Minister Ndemo.

Ndemo noted that the technology will be used in prisons during the mentioning (when the court requests suspect in court to check on status of case) and trial of cases. As a result, it will eliminate instances of prisoners not appearing for court due to transportation challenges and will reduce the number of prisoners who escape while in transit to and from courts.

"Currently suspects are driven from prisons to courts even if it is just for a mention of their cases. However the telepresence technology will allow both the magistrate and suspect to see each other and communicate through networked screens without being in the same location," said Ndemo.

Dinfin Mulupi is a business journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya. She is currently the East Africa corresp for an online business paper based in Cape Town in South Africa.
Contact Dinfin Mulupi at ejakaitdinfin@yahoo.com.

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