New court buildings will translate to better services, CJ Maraga assures Kenyans

Chief Justice David Maraga has assured the public that new court facilities built across the country will translate into better court services.

Speaking on Thursday when he officially opened the new Kigumo Law Courts building in Murang’a County, the CJ called on court officials to utilize the facilities to improve service delivery to wananchi.

He said it would be a disappointment to have the “spanking new buildings” without improving the quality of services offered to the public.

Saying that the Judiciary is committed to delivering justice expeditiously, he called judicial officers to ensure litigants understood the language used in proceedings.

Murang’a County Governor Mwangi wa Iria who also spoke during the function asked the Judiciary to expedite the resolution of many cases related to devolution which he said were currently pending at the Court of Appeal.

He also expressed concern over the many succession matters that are dragging through the legal process saying that delays in resolving property inheritance matters was impeding development and contributing to escalated crime in our county.

“Very deep social injustices are caused by succession challenges,” the Governor said.

Governor Mwangi promised that his administration will donate two acres of land for construction of a new High Court building in Murang’a town and parcels of land in every sub-county for the construction of a magistrates’ court.

The Presiding Judge of the Muranga High Court, Justice Kanyi Kimondo, said the construction of new court buildings was a major step towards achieving the CJ’s vision of taking Judiciary services closer to the people.

The Law Society of Kenya Mt. Kenya branch Chairperson, Ms Linda Kiome, praised the Judiciary’s efforts to clear old cases and asked the Chief Justice to increase the number of service weeks.

The Kigumo building is the first court to be opened this year and is one of the courts out of  28 being supported and funded by the World Bank through the Judicial Performance Improvement Project (JPIP).