Justice Fred Ochieng’ on Monday took over as the presiding Judge at the Kisumu High Court, after the transfer of Justice David Majanja who has been moved to the Kisii high court.
Justice Esther Maina has also been transferred to Nyamira High Court in the same re-deployment exercise.
During the handing over ceremony convened at the Kisumu court on Monday morning, Judge Majanja was hailed as a disciplined, hardworking, humorous and no-nonsense judge by various speakers.
Among those who spoke are Janet Lang’at from the office of the Attorney General, Jacinta Nyamosi from the office of the DPP, and Bruce Odeny who represented the LSK.
“He has been of great support and also understanding when we had some short-comings. We shall surely miss him,” the trio independently stated when they remarked.
Majanja was also praised for mentoring other young legal practitioners. The stations’ boss Principal Magistrate (PM) Joan Wambilianga conceded to this stating that the Judge is her icon.
In a recent ranking of the 13 major courts in Kenya, the Kisumu High Court was ranked as best performing in backlog reduction of cases where it registered -38% whereas the Machakos court was ranked second.
Justice Ochieng’ urged the court staff and jurists to help him deliver exceptionally noting that the task before him was not an easy one.
“Two Judges have moved out but they have just been replaced by one. I call upon you to help me serve the people of Kenya diligently", stated Justice Ochieng’.