{"id":161447,"date":"2026-06-07T12:01:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems"},"modified":"2026-06-07T13:05:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T13:05:38","slug":"poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems","title":{"rendered":"Poll Shows Falling Trust in African Judicial Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Kenya. <\/strong> <\/span>A recent report from a local source reveals that a significant portion of citizens in African countries view formal judicial systems as unjust, costly, and slow, while traditional justice systems continue to play a significant role in resolving disputes within many communities.<\/p>\n<p>The report is based on the results of 50,961 field interviews conducted in 38 African countries during 2024 and 2025, aimed at measuring citizens&#8217; opinions regarding access to justice and their trust in formal and informal judicial institutions.<\/p>\n<p>The findings indicate that African citizens resort to multiple avenues for resolving legal disputes, with 41% of respondents considering the police as the first point of contact, while 7% chose local courts, and 26% preferred traditional leaders, customary courts, or elders to resolve legal issues.<\/p>\n<p>The report highlights the continued lack of trust in the formal judicial system, as only half of the respondents expressed confidence in ordinary citizens&#8217; ability to obtain justice through the courts. Additionally, 51% believed they could receive fair judicial rulings, while only 43% thought that cases could be resolved within a reasonable timeframe.<\/p>\n<p>The results shed light on the widespread feeling of inequality before the law, with 59% of participants stating that citizens are treated &#8220;often&#8221; or &#8220;always&#8221; unequally within the judicial system, reflecting a decline in trust in the principle of legal equality among individuals.<\/p>\n<p>The study also revealed ongoing financial barriers that limit access to justice, as only 46% of respondents reported being able to afford legal assistance when needed, while only 44% stated they could bear the costs and procedures of litigation in courts.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding law enforcement and judicial penalties, participants expressed significant concerns about the impunity of influential individuals, with 48% believing that powerful figures can easily evade punishment, compared to only 13% who said the same applies to ordinary citizens.<\/p>\n<p>The report confirms that these findings reflect ongoing challenges related to achieving justice in many African countries, whether in terms of litigation costs, the speed of case resolution, or ensuring equality before the law, prompting a segment of citizens to rely on traditional justice mechanisms alongside formal judicial institutions.<\/p>\n<p>It is worth noting that the local source is an independent, non-partisan African research network focused on measuring citizens&#8217; opinions regarding democracy, governance, and quality of life on the continent, having conducted ten rounds of surveys since 1999.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Kenya<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Kenya. A recent report from a local source reveals that a significant portion of citizens in African countries view formal judicial systems as unjust, costly, and slow, while traditional justice systems continue to play a significant role in resolving disputes within many communities. The report is based on the results of 50,961 field [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":161446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[544],"class_list":["post-161447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-kenya"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Poll Shows Falling Trust in African Judicial Systems - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A recent report from a local source reveals that a significant portion of citizens in African countries view\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poll Shows Falling Trust in African Judicial Systems\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A recent report from a local source reveals that a significant portion of citizens in African countries view\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-07T12:01:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-07T13:05:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/06\/sm_1780836711.723871.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1490\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"838\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Poll Shows Falling Trust in African Judicial Systems\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-07T12:01:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-07T13:05:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems\"},\"wordCount\":395,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/06\/sm_1780836711.723871.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Kenya\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/poll-shows-falling-trust-in-african-judicial-systems\",\"name\":\"Poll Shows Falling Trust in African Judicial Systems - 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