Deputy Chief Justice, Lady Justice Philomena Mwilu attended the official opening of the Post-Election Seminar for members of the National Assembly in Mombasa on Monday.
While representing Chief Justice David Maraga, Mwilu left the below speech.
"I am humbled to be before the entire Assembly today to represent the Judiciary at the first Conference of the National Assembly of the 12th Parliament. I am excited for the opportunity to speak to, engage with, consult with, and learn from everyone.
It is a great opportunity to foster and enhance the mutually constructive relationship between the 2 arms of the government towards the benefit of all Kenyans.
I thank Speaker Muturi for his invitation and CJ Maraga for entrusting me with the responsibility of delivering this important address
The theme of this year’s conference is enhancing good governance and safeguarding the welfare of the Nation. That theme encompasses well our primary responsibility: the public interest. And as I have been asked to speak about the institutional relationship between the Judiciary and the Legislature, the best place to start is at a foundational principle of our constitutional democracy, that of the Rule of Law. The doctrine of Rule of Law essentially means that ‘people ought to be governed by law’.
The doctrine of separation of powers, “...is a necessary condition for the rule of law in modern society and therefore for democratic government itself.”1 Art. 1(3) of the Constitution 2010 affirms this.
The Courts absolutely respect the doctrine of separation of powers and that of legislative autonomy.
The formulation and enactment of laws is the province of Parliament and no person or agency, or other governmental organs, may impede the legislature’s autonomous discharge of that role.
Court orders must be respected by all persons and institutions, including all state and public officers. In the very Preamble of our Constitution, we recognise the aspirations of all Kenyans.
The CJ and I,& the entire leadership of the Judiciary are totally committed to the continued transformation of our great institution. We hear the complaints of litigants and the general public in regard to amongst others, access to justice, delays, backlog, corruption, bail and bond and sentencing.
We are acting on each of these issues. We have been undertaking an extensive programme of court construction; we are expediting court proceedings through active case management and the harnessing of ICT for example through e-filing; we are addressing case backlog through judiciary service weeks, alternative dispute resolution and robust case backlog clearance strategies; we have established an Anti- Corruption division of the High Court and increased the number of judges and magistrates in the anti-corruption courts; we have developed and are implementing guidelines on Bail and Bond a Sentencing to ensure our actions in these areas are rationalized and streamlined.These are but a few of the areas we are addressing & initiatives we are undertaking to improve service delivery in the Judiciary.
The CJ in January 2017 launched a comprehensive strategic blueprint for the Judiciary called ‘Sustaining Judiciary Transformation: A Service Delivery Agenda 2017-2022’. The strategic blueprint is an ambitious programme to further transform access to justice across the country.
It contains a detailed and comprehensive programme of the Judiciary’s strategy for further entrenching the gains of transformation and achieve our objective of a better, modernised and responsive Judiciary that will deliver quality service to the people of Kenya.
I stand before you making the plea: in order to ensure all Kenyans can access justice effectively and expeditiously, the Judiciary requires Parliament to significantly increase the Judiciary’s budgetary allocation. We have the reports and strategies and are ready to justify.
The CJ launched his strategic blueprint “Sustaining Judiciary Transformation: A Service Delivery Agenda 2017-2022’ to continue the transformation of the Judiciary into a modern & transformative institution.
Amongst the strategies therein is sustaining the fight against corruption by strengthening the Office of the Judiciary Ombudsman (OJO) and expanding and strengthening the Judiciary Leadership Advisory Council."