KISII, Kenya, Oct 26- Lawyers in Kisii and Nyamira Counties have threatened to withdraw their services from the regional courts, in protest with the recent transfer of Judges by the Judicial Service Commission.
The Law Society of Kenya South West Nyanza chairperson Wilkins Ochoki said they have scheduled a meeting in a week’s time to set a date of the strike.
Ochoki was speaking when he launched the legal awareness week at the Kisii law courts.
“We are purposely meeting to draw a plan on withdrawing services from the courts so that JSC can act, ” he said.
Their anger has been triggered by the transfer of Judges Esther Maina of Nyamira and Anthony Ndung’u of Kisii.
With the transfer, he said the delivery of judicial services has been negatively hampered.
“People have begun lamenting over delays in their cases. As lawyers, we are equally hurt because matters that are supposed to be heard are being shelved for lack of judges,” Ochoki told Shahidi News.
Both judges were transferred in mid-September this year and are yet to be replaced.
“What we are going to do is to abandon work so that JSC can understand the gravity of the situation we are in,” he cautioned.
He said temporary deployments of judges from Kisumu was not giving much reprieve to litigants.
“It is not helping anything. The Judges should work full time, that is what we want,” he said.
A legal awareness week is an annual event by the society when members of the public get free legal counsel.
Land cases, which often spark murders in the villages in Kisii, were said to be piling up at the courts due to a lack of understanding of the legal technicalities.
Ochoki called on the residents to capitalize on the legal awareness clinic and get acquainted with lawyers who can handle their cases.
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