Chief Justice David Maraga has lauded the reduction of cases backlog in Courts, revealing the number has reduced significantly. Speaking in Mombasa during the annual judges seminar, CJ Maraga said last year there were a recorded 110,000 cases that were more than five years old in all stations, and several plans were developed to help deal with the backlog of cases, including introducing more technology and setting up service weeks. As of this year in June, the number of cases that are older than five years in all the courts had reduced to 15,278.
This comes even as pressure mounted on the Judiciary in the war on graft, with some faulting the courts for stifling justice by taking too long to determine cases. “This is a remarkable achievement, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate colleagues for splendid job.” He said they intend to continue reducing the cases, “The aim now is to come to the four year limit so that we deal with all the cases above four years and possibly reduce them.”
He also noted trends witnessed in the different courts, revealing that it takes on average 1,235 days to dispose off criminal matters at the court of appeal and 727 days to conclude civil matters in the same court. However, it takes 522 days to conclude criminal matters in the high court and 1,057 days to conclude civil matters in the same court.