Newly appointed Senate Majority leader Samuel Poghisio and the Senate Majority Whip Irungu Kang’ata met Chief Justice David Maraga at the Supreme Court on Monday where they discussed areas of collaboration between the Judiciary and the Senate. Speaking after the meeting, CJ Maraga said the Senate and the Judiciary are independent bodies, but they need to work together.
Senate Majority leader and West Pokot Senator said they also discussed issues on improvement of the Judiciary and in which way the Senate can chip in and offer its support. “We need to understand how to collaborate on certain areas,” he said, “We are independent but interdependent.” He said the leaders also wanted to familiarize themselves with how the judiciary works.
The visit comes even as courts scale up operations countrywide according to directions issued by CJ Maraga, in accordance with keeping Covid-19 prevention directives. The number of people accessing the courts shall be limited at any given time to promote social distancing. In allocating hearing dates, priority will be given to cases whose hearings were affected by the scaling down of operation son March 16th.
For civil cases, parties and advocates have been urged to wait to be contacted as the courts have their contact details. For criminal cases, accused persons will be summoned to court through the office of the director of public prosecution and the police. Telephone and email inquiries are encouraged through the court contacts. All cause lists will continue to be posted on the Kenya Law Website and the Judiciary media platforms.
Virtual hearings will continue with limited physical hearings as necessary as advised by the court. To control crowds, courts will allocate hearing schedules each day. Parties should note their allocated time and keep to the schedule.
