The new Chesoi Law Court, expected to serve residents of Marakwet East, Kerio Valley and the larger parts of Marakwet West sub counties, may start operations by April 6 this year.
The Iten Senior Principal Magistrate, Gladys Adhiambo told a media briefing that the upcoming Judiciary dialogue day set for Iten Friday, had last year taken note of the resident’s dilemma in accessing justice.
Adhiambo said residents had raised concerns that accessing justice had become quite expensive for those living in the lower Marakwet region, as they were forced to travel a day earlier to make it to court on time, thus huge spending on transport and accommodation.
“They told us that one can spend up to Sh2,000 a day on transport alone, which was beyond the reach for majority of the residents,” she told the press at the Iten law courts.
The Magistrate said they shared the feedback with their headquarters, who saw the urgency in opening a court in Chesoi to take their services to residents to ensure that all Kenyans can access justice irrespective of where they are.
She therefore called on residents to turn up in large numbers in Iten this Friday, so that they can share their concerns with the Judiciary, on where they would want them to improve, saying as taxpayers they have a right to get justice.
She said for those who may not be able to turn up physically, there will be a QR code, which will have simple questions, where they will answer in addition to a link, which they can also use to ensure that as many people give their feedback.
Noting that the Judiciary works with other departments in its efforts to dispense justice, the Magistrate said members of Court Users Committee will also be in attendance to explain to residents of their role in the judicial process.
The court administrator, Peter Titi called on people who stood bond for someone using their title deed to ensure they pick them immediately the cases were concluded saying it had become quite difficult to give back such documents to rightful holders, whenever they fell critically ill, or were deceased.
He said a title deed is a very sensitive document which the court cannot release to anyone apart from the owner and therefore if the owner dies, the family must file a succession case to get an administrator of the deceased properties, who will be given the document.
Titi also called on those who paid a cash bail to ensure they are refunded their monies within 14 days after a matter is concluded, saying all one needs is an ID card, bank details and original receipt to get their refunds saying any delays should be reported to his office, so that they can follow up.
He added that anybody who either forgot or thought that the cash bail was a fine should reach out to his office, as long as one has the documents required, even if the case was concluded 10 years ago, saying if the money remains uncollected for long, it would be handed over to the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority.
By Alice Wanjiru
