Disturbing reports from the Milimani Small Claims Court in Nairobi suggest that a system designed to deliver swift and affordable justice is quietly bogging down litigants, with judgments said to be delivered in court but taking months to appear on the Judiciary’s Case Tracking System, leaving many Kenyans unable to access outcomes, enforce decisions or move on with disputes that the law requires to be concluded within sixty days.
According to court sources, this delay has become a recurring issue, with plaintiffs and defendants repeatedly forced to follow up in person or over the phone, often receiving conflicting information about when their cases will be officially recorded or made accessible online.
“Hello Cyprian. Kindly hide my ID. The judicial system is rotten. To be specific, Milimani Law Courts (Small Claims Court), the judgment is done, then you are told it will be uploaded on the CTS immediately. It takes months for you to get the outcome, yet the magistrate tells you to check at the end of business. Many Kenyans are suffering.”
The Milimani Small Claims Court, established under the Small Claims Court Act No. 2 of 2016, was intended as a fast, low-cost forum for resolving civil disputes such as unpaid debts, contractual disagreements, and minor property damage claims, with a statutory limit of Ksh 1,000,000.
The court’s procedures are deliberately simplified to allow in-person appearances, relaxed evidentiary rules, and swift judgments, with cases expected to be concluded within sixty days.
Presided over by experienced advocates, the court was designed to provide ordinary Kenyans a streamlined alternative to higher courts, reducing costs, red tape, and delays but the recurring delays and conflicting information reported by litigants now suggests that the court is drifting from this mandate and undermining its role as a quick and efficient avenue for dispute resolution.
