CJ Koome on one-year anniversary: Judges stalemate, understaffing were among my biggest hurdles

"There are very many hurdles I have encountered; some I anticipated before assuming office, because they were there before I came into office. There was the stalemate on appointment of judges. The delivery of justice was delayed (because of this). Another issue was the state of infrastructure of the Judiciary... if you expect the Judiciary operating at 54% capacity to serve all Kenyans, it's a tall order..." she said.

Koome spoke on Spice FM on Friday as she marked one year in office after taking over from her predecessor, David Maraga.

The issue of the appointment of judges put Maraga at odds with President Uhuru Kenyatta, after the Head of State declined to assent to names of judges, citing integrity issues of some of those on the list.

President Kenyatta, in June 2021, gazetted 34 of the 40 judges he had been pressed to appoint since 2019.

There were initially 41 judges the Judicial Service Commission had recommended for appointment by the President, however, one of the judges had died by the time names were gazetted.

President Kenyatta declined to appoint six people on the list.

On the issue of capacity of the Judiciary, Koome said the High Court should have a capacity of up to 200 judges, yet there are only 70. The Court of Appeal should have up to 30 judges, but there are only 20.

"It's only the Supreme Court which has a full threshold at seven judges," Koome said.

Even then, she said the number is not satisfactory.

"It's always a difficult balancing act to get full quorum," she said.

Koome said that when she came into office, she had to deal with a Judiciary which had been lagging in terms of development.

"The Judiciary has been left behind in terms of development and requires a Marshall plan to enable it respond to the needs of commercial justice and resolving disputes and hence the major programme of opening the doors to justice using other mechanisms such as small claims courts and arbitration."

On budgetary allocation, Koome said the Judiciary will keep pushing for more resources, while being cognisant of the fact that there are many competing needs.

"There is an understanding on the need for the Judiciary to be allocated enough resources to deliver... it's a work in progress. Sometimes when you live in a country like Kenya with many competing interests in terms of budgetary allocations, you have to be patient but keep arguing your case. A country is like your mother... you know what they are capable of doing and what they are not," she said.