BY SAM ALFAN.
Chief Justice Martha Koome has said she is ready to work with the newly elected Law Society of Kenya leaders to weed out quacks from the legal profession.
The CJ said the Judiciary is a firm defender of the independence of the Bar and will work with the LSK to ensure that the profession is not infiltrated by unqualified persons posing as advocates of the High Court.
After meeting with the new elected leaders, the CJ revealed that Judiciary welcomed suggestions on how to bar masqueraders from using the Huduma Desks.
“The Judiciary is ready to listen and work with LSK to implement and enforce such measures that will go a long way to strengthen the operations of the Huduma Desks and also to comply with the orders of the High Court in the Kituo Cha Sheria case,” said CJ Koome.
The lawyers had protested the move to open Judiciary Kioski at Huduma centers and vowed to boycott courts unless the decision was rescinded.
The Judiciary boss clarified that is being offered in the Huduma Centres are registry support service not the core judicial duty.
“Separation of powers as enunciated by the Supreme Court in the CDF Judgment (2022) does not mean splendid isolation of the branches of government, it recognises interdependence,” she said.
She added that it was the mandate that cannot be discharged by the other branches, in this case of the Judiciary, whose core mandate is judicial decision making, that has not been ceded to the other branches.
“In fact, Judicial officers and Judges will not be based at the Huduma Centres, “added CJ.
She further revealed that the infrastructural support does not interfere with judicial independence.
“We have a number of courts hosted in government premises. We have mobile courts being conducted in government premises,” said Koome.
She added that she is a firm advocate of the independence of the Bar and she believe that the Bar must not be infiltrated.
The CJ said they will find mechanisms to secure the integrity of the profession without isolating the poor and indigent.
The Assisted Filling Desks at Huduma centers are purely registry services. They will be manned by the Judiciary’s registry staff who are under firm instruction to restrict their duties to assist self-represented litigants to upload their pleadings on the e-filling portal.
“Nothing more. Should they engage in drafting or preparing pleadings that would be a violation of the Code of Conduct and disciplinary action would ensue. We are willing to listen to any suggestions or proposals on how to strengthen the operating protocols to ensure masqueraders do not exploit these Assisted Filling Desks,” said Judiciary boss.
The CJ admitted that as the Judiciary adopts technology in the form of e-filling and virtual courts, some court users, especially the vulnerable and indigent ones, face barriers in accessing and using the technologies deployed by the courts.
