Corridors Of Justice: CJ Koome Says Courts To Resume Physical Hearings Nationwide

NAIROBI,Kenya, Nov, 3 – For more than a calendar year, physical court sessions were halted by the judiciary as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged through the country causing several institutions to temporarily shut down and later gradually reopen.

In turn, courts nationwide resulted to adopting the use of technology in order to ensure justice is served albeit technological challenges experienced by thousands of Kenyans.

Cases were mentioned, heard and determined remotely and virtually with interested parties following proceedings online.

Months later however, particularly after president Uhuru Kenyatta lifted the nationwide dusk to dawn curfew while also revising certain guidelines to combat the spread of the deadly virus, Chief justice Martha Koome Tuesday revealed that the judiciary will also follow suit by finally resuming physical court sessions.

Normal physical working hours will now commence between 9am-5pm.

Koome revealed that the move was necessitated by the reduced cases of COVID-19 infection rate in the country.

“All courts shall operate from Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5p.m unless otherwise authorized by the Chief Justice,” said the CJ in a memo dated October 28, 2021.

All judges, magistrates, Kadhis and Tribunals have meanwhile been advised to ensure that ministry of health guidelines are adhered to during physical sessions.

“In view of the lifting of curfew orders by the president, l hereby direct that all court, Kadhis and tribunals will be conducted in public in line with lifting of curfew rules by the head of state,” she said.

Court User Committees (CUCs) and the Bar-Bench Committees are further instructed to come up with localised modalities that respond to their specific contexts on limiting the number of those attending court sessions.

Certain cases will however continue to be carried out virtually amidst technological challenges reported so far.