For the past three years, the grey double iron gates to Kericho’s courthouse have remained under lock and key with a lone private security guard occasionally doing rounds around the empty parking lot
For visitors, a glance at the structure in Kericho town has little to reveal what for decades went on behind the now shut doors, where justice was sought, granted or denied.
A court of arms and inscription on the structure is perhaps the only sign that betrays the edifice as the law courts.
But it is no longer serving the purposes it was set up for, and named after.
The signage is actually misleading, and has been for the last three years with litigants seeking justice being turned away – an injustice by itself.
It is here where careers were shattered, thousands of murderers, robbers, rapists, petty thieves, innocent victims jailed or freed by magistrates and high court judges.
On March 5, 2021, the building was declared unfit for human habitation with visible cracks on the walls, floors, joints of various court rooms and chambers.
A structural investigations report prepared by Leeds Engineering Company for the State Department for Public Works, condemned the structure with four blocks sharing suspended reinforced concrete slab and the ground floor slab.
“Several cracks on walls, separation joints between columns on walls, both ground and first-floor level and joints between the first floor and suspended slab were found,” stated the report seen by Nation.Africa .
It was discovered, according to the report, that the first floor of the building had hairline cracks, and that it sags while the suspension joints between the walls and columns gave indications of some movement within the block.
“Following assessment carried out, the physical condition observed and tests carried out, all the blocks have been found to be a risk for occupation due to the defects observed. These are majorly due to design defects as opposed to material characteristics,” states the report that sounded a death knell on the property.
Deputy Chief Justice Philemona Mwilu (then acting Chief Justice), directed on March 5, 2020 the premises closed following the unveiling of the status report and that criminal cases be heard at the Kericho County Revenue offices and the other matters be presided over virtually.
“The investigation report highlighted structural flaws arising from modifications undertaken on the building in 2014,” Justice Mwilu said while directing the premises to be shut.
Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Atieno Amadi toured the law courts on March 19 to inspect the condemned building and the alternatives site for the court to operate following a protest by members of the Court Users Committee (CUC).
A bench meeting ratified the CUC resolutions, to push for alternative premises to operate from with Law Society of Kenya (LSK) saying litigants had been inconvenienced and justice delayed.
“When word filtered out there were structural defects at the court building, I did not know that my own court was one of the most affected,” said Justice Asenath Ongeri, the then Judge in charge of the station.
The Judiciary secured a temporary site to operate from at Riverside Homes Kericho, owned by a local businessman, at corner C on the Kericho/Kisii highway following the closure of the main court building.
An iron sheet walled room is used as a holding cell for suspects, some of whom are hardcore criminals facing capital charges, in what poses a security risk, as police officers are always on their toes.
Four years after the Kericho law courts building was condemned as unfit for human habitation and judicial officers evacuated, litigants will have to wait longer before construction of new infrastructural facilities.
The temporarily leased law courts building in Kericho that Judicial officers moved to after the main court building was condemned over structural defects.
Photo credit: FILE| Nation Media Group
It has emerged that the judiciary does not have the ownership documents for the old structures, which have remained closed following detection of huge cracks in the building.
As a result, the county government of Kericho has committed to allocate land to the Judiciary to construct proper law courts building from scratch in the town.
The Judiciary has stated that it requires at least one and a half acres of land to set up law courts from scratch and the county has identified a land off Kisumu road for the facility, with alternative being the current Kewasco offices next to the County headquarters (Governor’s office).
Kewasco is expected to relocate to Duka Moja where the World Bank will fund construction of new offices next to the Sh 1.2 billion water project recently opened by President William Ruto.
“We have identified land to be allocated to the Judiciary to construct law courts in this town so as to ease the pressure and inconvenience of the litigants and other court users and fast track access to justice which is the people’s fundamental right,” Kericho Governor Erick Mutai said.
Kericho Governor Erick Mutai (centre) speaking after hosting members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) at his office on October 5, 2023.
Photo credit: VITALIS KIMUTAI| Nation Media Group
The Governor spoke after holding a meeting with members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) who were on a tour of the region.
Dr Mutai said in the interim, the county has allocated a building to the Judiciary for the setting up of a small claims court that will deal with cases with claims below Sh1 million.
With the planned setting up of proper court building, a judge in charge of the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) is expected to be posted to Kericho so as to deal with the cases arising in the South Rift region, with litigants currently forced to travel to Kisumu, Nakuru or Eldoret to file cases.
Ideally, the Employment and Labour Relations Court, and the Environment and Land Court serves Bomet and Kericho counties.
“As it stands now, the litigants in the region will have to wait a little bit longer to have proper law courts for the judicial officers to operate from. After identification of the land and handover, the judiciary will then have to allocate funds for construction. It will take time,” a senior judiciary officer said.
At the same time, the judiciary will set up magistrate courts in Kipkelion East, Belgut and Bureti constituencies following an appeal from the county and Court Users Committee (CUC).
Ms Evalyne Olwande and Mr Isaac Ruto, members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), in the company of Justice Joseph Sergon in charge of the Kericho station, said construction of a court building in the area was a priority for the Judiciary.
“There are courts that have been Gazetted, but the Judiciary lacks the requisite funds to operationalize it. It is a matter that needs to be addressed as we (Judiciary) need a fixed budget for the programs and projects that have been identified,”
Mr Ruto said Judges and Magistrates were handling over 200 percent of the workload they are supposed to be dealing with, which weighed down against them.
“The Judicial officers do not talk about the challenges they are faced with, but after interactions with them, it has emerged that they are doing double the work they are ideally supposed to handle” Mr Ruto said adding that more Judges and Magistrates will be employed.
