This archive report was first published on 3 September 2019.
Kenya's High Court is set to tackle a significant case backlog during a service week, with plans to hear and determine over 2,900 cases in courts with the highest backlogs across the country.
According to a statement released on Tuesday, the Court will hear, determine, and dispose of 2,922 cases in 15 High Court stations from September 2 to September 13, 2019.
The initiative is part of efforts to reduce case backlog and ensure timely access to justice for all Kenyans. Judges, in consultation with various stakeholders, decided to utilize the August vacation to hear cases in targeted courts and divisions with the heaviest workload.
The service week is a multi-agency collaboration, with all players in the justice chain working together to achieve the desired results. The National Council of Administration of Justice (NCAJ) is leading the effort, with the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Prisons Department, and Probation Department all committed to supporting the initiative.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has also registered its support for the service week. During the exercise, audio recordings of proceedings will be made in all six courtrooms of the Commercial and Tax Division of the High Court in Nairobi, marking the first time the Judiciary has recorded proceedings during a service week.
The service week has been successfully used as a strategy to reduce case backlog in the past. Other interventions, including increasing the number of judges and implementing performance management and measurement, have also led to a reduction in the High Court's case backlog from 162,772 to 91,427 cases, as reported in the Performance Management Measurement and Understanding (PMMU) 2017/2018 report.
The Case Clearance Rate for the High Court has consistently increased, from 69 per cent in 2012 to 149 per cent.
