Chief Justice David Maraga yesterday promised to urgently appoint a multi-sectoral committee to handle reforms in the criminal justice system.
He conceded there were myriad challenges that require crucial interventions and called for co-operation among agencies falling under the National Council on Administration of Justice (NCAJ).
Justice Maraga expressed concern over the “unsettling and disturbing findings” of the first audit of the criminal justice system that was commissioned by the NCAJ on May 15, 2015 and covered police stations, children remand homes, courts and prisons in 18 counties.
He formally launched the report at a hotel in Nairobi, and described it as a stinging indictment of the existing legal framework that discriminates against the poor, the infirm, children, the youth and women.
The Chief Justice recalled that many citizens were arrested and released for petty offences while others were charged in court and eventually released for lack of adequate evidence. Further, he said, some convicts spent up to nine years behind bars awaiting the outcome of their appeals.
Maraga said Kenya’s prisons were holding up to 55,000 in-mates, way beyond their capacity of 27,000 people, adding that most of the buildings were dilapidated and unfit for human occupation.
The Attorney-General Prof Githu Muigai called for the formation of a joint task force to oversee reforms and pointed out that Parliament has passed three crucial laws that protect accused persons, offer legal aid to those who cannot afford and a compensation fund for victims of crime.
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