Judicial officers at Limuru law court in Kiambu county have asked members of the public to report any form of corruption to them for action.
Chief Magistrate Ann Mwangi said that corruption does not only entail giving someone money secretly for favors, but the way you are treated.
She explained to the members of the public that, it is the bad language used to them while being served, being rude to customers and being late for work are other forms of corruptions which are very painful.
The chief magistrate asked members of the public to report to her office any incident of someone asking them for money in form of corruption or any other forms of corruption adding that judicial customers need to be treated with a lot of respect.
“We do not have brokers in the judiciary and we offer free services. We are here because of you. We are paid by the government to serve you. If you are asked for money secretly for any favour or if you are mistreated, just come and report to us ” she said.
“The only money you can pay here is only fines, bonds and get a receipt, and there is a known procedure. The other money you can be asked is outside the court and is the lawyer’s fees if you have and you have to agree with him in their offices” she said.
The chief magistrate paraphrased forms of corruption during the Judiciary Dialogue Day. She was accompanied by Senior Principal Magistrate Miriam Mugure and Senior Resident Magistrate Brenda Ofisi.
Others were Limuru law court users committee members led by their vice chairman Paul Ngugi, and members of the public who asked so many questions regarding court process.
Ngugi thanked the judiciary for organising such an event so as to enlightenment the public about court cases.
“So many people gets to know a little information about the courts when is charged” he said.
“The judiciary has been doing all it can to get to the people who are it’s customers. They have been holding different activities such as tree planting, visiting schools, open days and now we had judiciary dialogue day” the CUC vice chairman said.
Mugure applauded members of the public for attending the event and participating to interact with judicial officers as court servers.
“The day is aimed at building trust between the members of the public and judiciary staff. We all human beings. Some years ago, magistrates and judges were feared since they were seen as people whose mandate is jail others” she said.
“Today, we have interacted so well. The public have known how to file a case, how and who to complain to incase of lack of satisfaction of any service, their rights when they arrive or they have a case in court” she said.
Mugure also added that, they have also discussed with them about Alternative Dispute Resolutions (ADR), where they have a case and they want to be reconciled.
The judicial officers had set four center’s with each center handing it’s category of cases. They were handling criminal, civil cases, ADR and corruption related incidences.
However at the end, Mugure said so many people asked questions about court cases and ADR, but no one raised an issue regarding corruption.
“The corruption center has been empty. No one asked questions about it, meaning there are no such vices here. We will not entertain them. However, residents who came were handled well and went back home contented” Mugure added.
Limuru CUC chaplain Pastor George Kimani the judiciary was building trust with members of the public, and locals were having faith with some rulings.
Kimani said that, owing to build trust, the judiciary had hired officials to reconcile people who requests the court to assist them resolve their case outside the court free of charge.
“So many people did not know about ADR, but there are those who are learning about them. The move is helping the judiciary to reduce the huge backlog of cases in all the courts in the country ” Kimani said.
