Africa-Press – Kenya. Chief Justice Martha Koome has urged the full adoption of a multi-door approach to dispute resolution. Koome said the approach includes reconciliation, mediation, arbitration, and traditional dispute resolution mechanisms.
Speaking on Tuesday, the CJ said the opening of a new state-of-the-art Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Mediation Centre by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators is timely.
“It is a moment when all of us in the justice sector have embraced the view that we must act innovatively to deal with the growing caseloads, delays and costs associated with court-based litigation,” she said.
Koome said that arbitration and mediation were sure avenues in the pursuit of efficiency in dispute resolution. “We in the Judiciary are now more than ever determined to support initiatives and programmes geared towards making practical improvements in the working of our system of justice,” she said.
CJ Koome challenged the Institute to take up an advocacy, public awareness and promotional role to sensitise Kenyans on the benefits of alternative dispute resolution processes.
“The public must be made to realise that we can all be agents of justice and that justice does not lie solely in the courtrooms,” she said.
“I hold the view that it is only when we all claim agency for justice and act to resolve our disputes within our communities that we can establish the socially just state and society as envisaged in our Constitution.”
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