Former LSK chair Rift Valley region Lawyer Bernard Kipkoech Ngetich has said the new Chief Justice will have a tedious task ahead of ensuring that the challenge of backlog of cases in the judiciary is dealt with among other issues.
In an exclusive interview on Thursday, the Nakuru-based lawyer noted that despite the retired chief Justice Dr.Willy Mutunga trying, the Judiciary still has challenges of backlog of cases that need to be dealt with.
“I must commend the Judicial Service Commission for the good work of contacting interviews and coming up with recommendation of Justice David Maraga. We hope this is a step but more so is the role that I expect the new Chief Justice to ensure he deals with the backlog of cases in the courts," said Ngetich.
Lawyer Ngetich noted that Nakuru law courts for instance has only one Judge who deals with issues of Land and Environment something that should be addressed.
“I expect the new Chief Justice to ensure that more judges are posted for instance here in Nakuru you find that we only have one judge dealing with issues of environment and this has led to backlog of cases. This should be addressed to ensure justice is not delayed” said Ngetich.
The former LSK chair said corruption is another issue that should be addressed.
“Retired Chief Justice Dr.Willy Mutunga when he was leaving office did mention that there are cartels in the Judicial system who are in the business of corruption and therefore the new Chief Justice should continue with his predecessor’s ambition to clean up the judiciary," said Ngetich.
Justice David Maraga was nominated as the next Chief Justice.
Judicial Service Commission insiders on Thursday revealed that they were looking for a candidate with deep understanding of the Kenyan Judiciary, one able to bridge the deep lying ideological differences between the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal and with no known political leanings, qualities they found in Justice Maraga, aged 65.