The Judiciary has launched a Co-operative Tribunal Service Week to clear matters that have been pending before the tribunal for over five years.
The Service week runs from March 26 - 29, 2018, in Nairobi. A total of 1178 cases have been listed for dismissal.
The initiative is in line with Judiciary’s promise outlined in Sustaining the Judiciary Transformation (SJT) blueprint, to clear all cases older than five years by the end of 2018.
Chief Justice David Maraga in a speech read on his behalf by the chair, Judiciary Working Committee on Transition of Tribunals, Justice Kathurima M’Inoti, said the launch was a start of several service weeks to ensure that the SJT pillar on case backlog reduction is achieved.
“I am informed that this process is to be replicated in those other tribunals that have cases, which fall within the backlog reduction strategy,” the CJ said.
He added that the co-operative movement in Kenya is one of the greatest drivers of our economy which had representation from across the entire economic spectrum and thus disputes were bound to arise.
“The Co-operative Tribunal is therefore a critical pillar of support to the movement in the just and expeditious resolutions of disputes,” the CJ said on Friday.
Justice Maraga explained that transition of tribunals to the Judiciary had picked momentum and out of the over 60 tribunals in Kenya, 20 of them were operationally run from the Judiciary.
Principal Secretary, State Department for Co-operative Mr Ali Noor Ismail welcomed the transition of the tribunal to the Judiciary and pledged his ministry support in the transition process.
The Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi, said that tribunals were critical part of the justice system and that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) was committed to a smooth transition of all the tribunals.
The tribunal is a specialized court established under section 77 of the Co-operative Societies Act, Chapter 490 of the laws of Kenya. It has exclusive and unlimited geographical and pecuniary jurisdiction in co-operative disputes.
Decisions of the Tribunal are appealable to the High Court within 30 days of the ruling/award.
The Co-operative tribunal was first established in 1997 and domiciled in the ministry but opened doors to the public in 2002. In 2010 the Constitution of Kenya placed all tribunals under the Judiciary.
A detailed list of individual cases has been posted on the Judiciarywebsite together with a daily cause list.
Parties are required to appear as scheduled at Re-Insurance Plaza 11th floor.