Kenya’s Judiciary has adopted a raft of measures to mitigate the spread of the Corona Virus in the justice sector.
For instance, Malindi Law Courts in southeastern Kenya, is currently leveraging on technology to decongest courtrooms while Taita Taveta County, 380 km southeast of Nairobi has embarked on prison decongestion exercise to curb the spread of the virus.
Last Friday, Malindi Court led by Chief Magistrate Dr Julie Aseko presided over live court proceedings via a video conferencing facility enabled by the Skype technology.
The exercise conducted in conjunction with Malindi Government of Kenya prisons saw 157 matters handled by the court, by close of business.
In Taita Taveta, Voi High Court Presiding Judge Farah Amin processed 24 files from Wundanyi Magistrate’s Court and issued orders for the release of 23 petty offenders from Wundanyi Government of Kenya Prison as part of efforts to decongest prison facilities and mitigate the spread of COVID-19.
All other courts in the country have put up measures such as hearing matters at the customer care centres established at the courts to maintain a social distance and in turn curb the spread of the virus.
This is in line with National Council on the Administration of Justice move, chaired by Chief Justice David Maraga, to scale down court activities in compliance with the directives issued by the National Emergence and Response Committee.
Last week, Maraga said that all appeals, hearings, and mentions of criminal and civil cases in all courts have been suspended with immediate effect.
On the other hand, Kenya’s High Court is currently holding open air hearings as the country grapples with new cases of the pandemic.
So far, Kenya has confirmed 15 cases of the Covid-19
JK/abj/APA