Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji and European Union Ambassador Katrin Hagemann have launched a Sh10 million speed boat to enhance access to justice for residents of the remote islands in Lamu County.
The boat, the MV Adil, was received with EU sponsorship.
The boat will facilitate the mobility of the DPP and other criminal justice actors during mobile court sessions.
Lamu has more than 60 islands. Apart from the famed Lamu Old Town, the other islands making up the Lamu archipelago include Manda, Siyu, Pate, Faza, Kizingitini, Ndau, Mkokoni, Kiwayu, Kiunga.
Almost all these islands are hundreds of kilometres apart, with the only means of access being engine boats, which are costly, limiting access to courts for many residents.
Mr Haji said the challenges associated with access to justice in Lamu became manifest when his office and other stakeholders in the criminal justice system conducted a one-week ‘All for Justice’ initiative and community dialogues across the archipelago in 2019.
“I witnessed first-hand the pain, suffering and injustice occasioned on the residents due to their inability to access justice,” he said.
He noted that the remoteness of the islands, lack of legal awareness, logistical costs for both law enforcement and witnesses to attend court hearings, witness apathy and the risk of prisoner escape are key challenges.
Mr Haji also cited reliance by criminal justice actors on commercial means of transport to access courts, insecurity and lack of adequate mobile courts as the other challenges.
He expressed confidence that the Adil will help prosecutors reach residents who were previously unreachable.
“I appreciate the support from the EU through the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for facilitating the acquisition of this boat,” he said.
“We will ensure justice reaches all. This newly launched boat will enable justice actors to go beyond their limits to serve the people of Lamu and by extension the people of Kenya.”.
Ms Hagemann said the EU wants to see residents of Lamu get access to justice. The boat, she said, is part of a bigger project called the Programme for Legal Empowerment and Aid Delivery in Kenya (Plead).
“I believe the vessel will enable fast-tracking of cases and ensuring justice is administered to the citizens wherever they are. It’s important that the justice sector has its own boat so that it can have the possibility to get to all of you and administer justice where the people are,” she said.
“When people see justice administered where they are, they will start trusting in the system. They will also trust the system even more when they see justice working for them and that’s among our key priorities.”
Malindi High Court Presiding Judge Reuben Nyakundi, who attended the event, described the boat as a new dawn for the administration of justice in the region.
“This is a great milestone in terms of facilitating the administration of justice. What justice requires is both physical, hardware and software infrastructure as a carrier to enable the administration of justice to be effective and efficient,” he said.
He added, “Places like Lamu and Tana River have very unique circumstances logistically, geographically and environmentally where sometimes we need to meet our people at the point of need and this vessel, we are launching today will make that possible.”
Several human rights agencies, including Haki Africa, Muslims for Human Rights (Muhuri), Lamu Justice Network and the Coast Interfaith Council of Clerics, all lauded the introduction of the boat.
