Court leaders will have to take a more active role in clearing pending cases, following a fresh push by the Judiciary to deal with delays, absenteeism, poor performance and misconduct within the justice system.
The move follows joint discussions held on Friday by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the Judiciary Leadership Team (JLT), which agreed on a series of steps aimed at improving how courts operate and rebuilding public trust in the administration of justice.
Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Winfridah Mokaya, who serves as secretary to both the JSC and JLT, said the changes are based on the need to protect the independence of the Judiciary while ensuring that it remains answerable to the public.
The two bodies said they had considered concerns from court users, advocates and members of the public over the time taken to conclude cases, the release of judgments and rulings, the performance of judicial officers and staff, the handling of complaints and transparency.
Mokaya said being independent does not mean the Judiciary should operate without answering to the people who rely on the courts.
“An independent Judiciary must equally be accountable, responsive, efficient and worthy of the confidence of the people it serves,” the joint communiqué stated.
Under the new approach, heads of courts and court stations, together with other supervisors, will be expected to play a bigger part in ensuring the courts under their care run properly.
They will have to respond to pending cases, judgments and rulings that have taken too long, staff absenteeism, weak performance and misconduct.
The responsibility will also cover problems affecting registry services, which are part of the daily operations of the courts.
The JSC and JLT said court leadership and management will regularly review performance, integrity and the handling of pending cases.
The reviews are intended to help identify problems at an early stage and allow action to be taken before they grow into bigger challenges.
The Judiciary will also put greater focus on active case management, with specific steps expected to have clear targets and deadlines.
The aim will be to reduce the number of cases waiting to be handled and shorten the time taken to deliver judgments and rulings.
Court performance dashboards, data and technology-based monitoring tools will also be used more often to follow the progress of cases.
The systems will help identify courts and areas where delays are taking place and allow those responsible to act in good time.
Mokaya said data would also play a bigger role in decisions on workloads, staffing and recruitment.
She said the use of reliable information would help the Judiciary direct its available staff and other resources to areas where the need is greatest.
The JSC and JLT also turned their attention to the information released about the performance of individual judges and judicial officers.
The institutions said such information must be correct, checked and able to give a proper account of the work carried out by the individual concerned.
They will therefore review the current way individual performance is assessed and reported.
The review will consider situations where judges sit as part of multi-judge benches, cases where judicial work is shared, the difficulty of cases and other duties handled by judicial officers.
The Judiciary said individual performance details will only be released after the information used to prepare them and the method of assessment have been properly verified.
The institutions also renewed their commitment to dealing firmly with corruption and misconduct.
Existing systems responsible for integrity and accountability will be reviewed to make their duties clearer, avoid having different bodies perform the same roles and improve coordination.
The review will also seek to improve how complaints are followed up and reported.
More attention will be given to misconduct by Judiciary employees, including those working in registries and other areas where staff interact directly with people seeking court services.
The JSC and JLT said every encounter between a member of the public and the Judiciary can shape how people view the justice system.
For this reason, the two bodies said they would improve communication with litigants, advocates and members of the public.
They plan to create clearer channels through which people can follow up on complaints, make enquiries and raise representations.
Mokaya also said the Judiciary would change how it engages the public, particularly when dealing with issues that attract public attention.
She said the institution would move away from mainly responding after controversies have already emerged.
Instead, she said the Judiciary would adopt “a more proactive, regular and transparent engagement with the public.”
The JSC and JLT said the reforms would ultimately be judged by their impact on the justice system.
They said key signs of success would include quicker resolution of cases, fewer pending matters, stronger integrity, improved openness and greater confidence in the Judiciary.