The report, a culmination of an evaluation exercise conducted between October and December last year/COURTESY
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 27 – The Malindi Court of Appeal has been ranked the best performing courts attaining an impressive 62 per cent reduction in case backlog.
The court according to the 2016/2017 Performance Management and Measurement Understandings evaluation report published on Friday attained the fete under the leadership of Justices Alnashir Visram, Wanjiru Karanja (Lady), and Martha Koome (Lady).
Also rated among top-performing courts nationwide are Kericho, Voi and Machakos High Courts where Lady Justices Mumbi Ngugi, Jacqueline Kamau, and Pauline Nyamweya achieved high productivity (per annum) and clearance rates.
The three courts were ranked second, third, and fourth respectively, after the Malindi Court of Appeal.
While Lady Justice Ngugi attained productivity of 221 cases in the category of 200 cases and below, her Voi counterpart achieved productivity of 331 cases in the category of 201 to 500 cases.
In Machakos, Lady Justice Nyamweya attained a clearance rate of 583 per cent in the caseload category of above 500 cases.
The Nakuru Employment and Labour Relations Court under Justice Stephen Radido was rated fifth nationwide and the best in its category achieving a hearing and determination rate of 100 per cent within 360 days.
The Supreme Court Registry, under the leadership of Esther Nyaiyaki, was recognized as the best court registry countrywide during the period under review. The registry was ranked eighteenth out of twenty outstanding court units.
The report, a culmination of an evaluation exercise conducted between October and December last year in 257 implementing units, also recorded a significant improvement in court user satisfaction index at 64 per cent.
Speaking during the launch of the of the evaluation report on Friday, Chief Justice David Maraga also noted an increase in the number of resolved cases at 58 per cent, from 192,000 in the 2015/2016 period to 304,182 in 2016/2017.
“Resolved criminal cases increased from 156,024 to 218,796 while civil cases increased from 36,076 cases to 85,386 cases over the same period,” Justice Maraga pointed out while noting the dramatic improvement in the performance of law courts.
“In regard to case backlog, the number of cases older than five years came down by 15 per cent, from 139,256 in 2015/2016 to 118,566 cases in 2016/2017,” he added.
While launching the report, Justice Maraga announced a Sh150,000 cash reward for 20 court units ranked as the best to enhance capacity.
“Each of the 20 best-performing stations will receive a cash reward of Sh150,000 which through the guidance of the Judiciary Registrar be used to implement projects within respective courts,” he said.
The Kisii Environment and Land Court, at position six, was rated the best in its category achieving a case clearance rate of 173 per cent. The court was headed at the time of review by Justice John Mutungi.
Among Magistrates” Courts, Mpeketoni under Vincent Asiyo, Wajir under Amos Kiprop Makoros, and Kakamega under Jared Magori topped the list.
While Magistrate Asiyo’s productivity was recorded at 414 cases in the category of fewer than 500 cases, that of Magistrate Makoros in the category of between 501 and 1000 cases was rated as “very good.”
In Kakamega, the magistrate attained a reduced case backlog of 75 per cent.
Other Magistrates” Courts listed in the index are Embu under Maxwell Gicheru, Makadara under Emily Ominde and Tononoka under Viola Yator.
In Embu, the case backlog reduced by 54 per cent while that in Makadara went down by 19 per cent.
In Tononoka, the magistrate attained productivity of 193 cases.
Kadhis’ Courts followed suit with Murang’a emerging top in the category followed by Takaba and Lamu.
The performance of Murang’a’s Abdilatif Silau, Takaba’s Ahmed Isaack Maalim and Lamu’s Hamisi Mshali performance was rated as “very good.”
The Milimani Commercial Court under the leadership of Justice Peter Gesora attained a reduction of case backlog by 3,278 securing a place in the top 20 chart.
Others in the top 20 list are the Directorate of Internal Audit and Risk Management, the National Council for Law Reporting, and the Judiciary Training Institute.
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