The Machakos Law Courts on Friday held a court open day that brought together all the stakeholders in the justice sector and the public.
The event held at the court grounds saw judges, magistrates, lawyers, the police, prosecution, criminal investigators, mediators, probation and children officers interact with members of the public and share information on the services they provide as stakeholders.
Chief Magistrate and Head of Station -Machakos Law Courts-Francis Andayi said the initiative is meant to achieve Social Transformation Through Access to Justice (STAJ) through legal information and public education.
Andayi said the courts intends to achieve STAJ through people centred strategies that are independent, accessible and efficient to protect the rights of all especially the vulnerable.
He added that the open day also seeks to demystify court proceedings to the public and enhance access to justice. “This forum is meant to bring our clients close and understand what goes on in court.Members of the public think that court proceedings are shrouded in mystery and middlemen take advantage of them,” said chief magistrate.
Andayi also added that the judiciary has rolled out e-filing of cases to enhance transparency and urged members of the public to take advantage of the system to track their cases.
“Members of the public can now access their files and know how far they cases have gone, documents required adjournment and reasons for adjournments so long as they are registered,” he said.
The chief magistrate called on the public to embrace mediation especially for cases related to succession to reduce case load and fasten resolution of matters.
“Many of the cases in Machakos are succession cases where litigants can use a neutral arbitrator and agree amongst themselves what can be done to reduce the backlog,” he said.
Andayi also asked the public to make use of the small claims court to settle matters. Pauline Muthoka, a mediator asked residents to embrace mediation as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism instead of going to court saying mediation is cost effective and helps reduce case backlogs.
“Mediation takes about two months, it reduces the number of resources and time used and also save relationships especially for members of the same community,” she said.
Also present was County Children’s Coordinator Rhoda Mwikya who dissuaded the public against settling defilement cases outside courts.”Kangaroo courts are not allowed, and defilement cases are dealt with in a court of law,” said Mwikya.
She noted that many defilement cases go unreported and called on members of the public to report such cases to protect children.
“Many cases are not reported and if they are, the reporting is done late when the evidence has been lost. We call on members of the public to be vigilant and report such cases to safeguard the rights of children,” noted the children’s coordinator.