Dr. Mutunga's New Job

[Simanova]

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Mutunga takes up new job as Commonwealth Special envoy to Maldives.

[RV Pundit]

At least there is no need to moonlight anymore...now he can focus on his day job. Judiciary can do with someone with full time commitment.

[MOON Ki]

At least there is no need to moonlight anymore...now he can focus on his day job. Judiciary can do with someone with full time commitment.

He's no longer CJ.   Time to go easy with the misplaced animus.

[RV Pundit]

I know the double standards. So he get a free pass...when he is leaving judiciary highest court in shambles.

He's no longer CJ.   Time to go easy with the misplaced animus.

[Simanova]

I don't get it. What shambles?

If it is the SCK, Mutunga could not prevent Njoki, Ojwang etc from authoring a letter in support of Rawal. That act rendered three judges incompetent and denied the SCK jurisdiction. He had to go to avoid the shame of being bundled out by you guys who want a Kikuyu in that place.

I would say its the Executive wrecking the SCK for some hidden agenda. That is why the Executive is blocking the publication of the vacancies in the Kenya gazette forgetting that the jSC can approach any High court judge to declare the seats vacant notwithstanding the lack of notices.

I still havent figured out why Uhurtu thinks it is desirable to have a new CJ.

I know the double standards. So he get a free pass...when he is leaving judiciary highest court in shambles.

He's no longer CJ.   Time to go easy with the misplaced animus.

[RV Pundit]

What more support from the executive did Mutunga want than more than 150B the judiciary has received the last 6yrs he has been CJ.

Uhuru & Parliament have given him about 70B the last four years.

If Judiciary has failed; it has failed; because constitution has made it independent in all the scenes; financial, operations and delivery of justices.

Most of the money the Judiciary has been given ended up like in NYS in corruption. Mutunga has been sitting there as bystander while moonlighting in civil society and international circles writting speeches...while looking for next gig...which explain why he didn't even get home before flying to Maldvies for another job.

There is very little to show for 17B...that Mutunga gets every year...compared to 3B Njeru (the former CJ) got 6yrs ago.

I don't get it. What shambles?

If it is the SCK, Mutunga could not prevent Njoki, Ojwang etc from authoring a letter in support of Rawal. That act rendered three judges incompetent and denied the SCK jurisdiction. He had to go to avoid the shame of being bundled out by you guys who want a Kikuyu in that place.

I would say its the Executive wrecking the SCK for some hidden agenda. That is why the Executive is blocking the publication of the vacancies in the Kenya gazette forgetting that the jSC can approach any High court judge to declare the seats vacant notwithstanding the lack of notices.

I still havent figured out why Uhurtu thinks it is desirable to have a new CJ.

[Simanova]

What more support from the executive did Mutunga want than more than 150B the judiciary has received the last 6yrs he has been CJ.

Uhuru & Parliament have given him about 70B the last four years.

If Judiciary has failed; it has failed; because constitution has made it independent in all the scenes; financial, operations and delivery of justices.

Most of the money the Judiciary has been given ended up like in NYS in corruption. Mutunga has been sitting there as bystander while moonlighting in civil society and international circles writting speeches...while looking for next gig...which explain why he didn't even get home before flying to Maldvies for another job.

There is very little to show for 17B...that Mutunga gets every year...compared to 3B Njeru (the former CJ) got 6yrs ago.

Those shambles...

I still do not get it. You have mentioned corruption. That may mean there were weak checks. But we also know that he fired the High Priestess of corruption in the judiciary whom the DPP is not making up his mind to charge fully perhaps in fear of the campaign launched by the Husband. I guess Uhuru does not want to have the entire Standard Media against him.

Other that, there is less reported mega corruption in the Judiciary than the Executive and yet you are so full of praises for Uhuruto.  Why the double standards.

Lastly unless you have anything else to rely on other than corruption in the judiciary, I find your statement not proven.

On my way out I saw 150 billion: I can report more courts built in new areas where there were no courts; Old ones and other facilities have been improved. Improved terms of service: Salaries for personnel have improved thus drawing in more qualified lawyers unlike in the past when only failed advocates sought to be judges. The car pool has improved not just for judges and magistrates but for other staff.

Sadly there is still corruption. It is a question of checks. There are agencies with bigger budgets (collectively) with the responsibility of fighting that vice. We saw Uhuru savage one by forcing the commissioners to resign.

The NSI has not helped in the fight despite having a huge budget and unlimited expertise. The CID and police have become a Jubilee militia.Tales of corruption keep reeling at the Police vetting board but KRA, EACC, DPP say nothing. Why has the DPP not issued suo moto orders to the CID to follow up?

There is the Asset Recovery Unit. Why is the unit allowing the thieves to go home with corrupt monies? They can afford to retire.

So you can see Mutunga could do better if he was commanding the Police etc. That is unlikely because we have a three pillar co-equal government.

[RV Pundit]

Is that a roundabout way to say he has failed but lets blame corruption? Why do you want him to get a free pass while UhuRuto get blamed for corruption in the executive? Who hired CEO Shollei and who should have been supervising her?

When you talk about new courts...I wonder where..coz the one I saw in Bomet has stalled for last few years?

Those shambles...

I still do not get it. You have mentioned corruption. That may mean there were weak checks. But we also know that he fired the High Priestess of corruption in the judiciary whom the DPP is not making up his mind to charge fully perhaps in fear of the campaign launched by the Husband. I guess Uhuru does not want to have the entire Standard Media against him.

Other that, there is less reported mega corruption in the Judiciary than the Executive and yet you are so full of praises for Uhuruto.  Why the double standards.

Lastly unless you have anything else to rely on other than corruption in the judiciary, I find your statement not proven.

On my way out I saw 150 billion: I can report more courts built in new areas where there were no courts; Old ones and other facilities have been improved. Improved terms of service: Salaries for personnel have improved thus drawing in more qualified lawyers unlike in the past when only failed advocates sought to be judges. The car pool has improved not just for judges and magistrates but for other staff.

Sadly there is still corruption. It is a question of checks. There are agencies with bigger budgets (collectively) with the responsibility of fighting that vice. We saw Uhuru savage one by forcing the commissioners to resign.

The NSI has not helped in the fight despite having a huge budget and unlimited expertise. The CID and police have become a Jubilee militia.Tales of corruption keep reeling at the Police vetting board but KRA, EACC, DPP say nothing. Why has the DPP not issued suo moto orders to the CID to follow up?

There is the Asset Recovery Unit. Why is the unit allowing the thieves to go home with corrupt monies? They can afford to retire.

So you can see Mutunga could do better if he was commanding the Police etc. That is unlikely because we have a three pillar co-equal government.

[Simanova]

I tend to disagree.

You listed corruption (150 billion being wasted) as evidence of shambles. I simply disagree and have given my reasons. If you can point at some other failure which can be attributed to him I would probably begin to see a distant hazy image of the shambles. Right now I see only a man who was honest, sincere and devoted to his work.or  He took firm action against corruption - firmer and more sincere than Uhuruto.

We have two judges facing investigations as we speak - both for corruption and both as a result of direct action by Mutunga. How many has Uhuru fired since he took office?  None of those found corrupt or incompetent have been brought back in to that arm of government. That is more than I can say for Uhuruto who keep recycling thieves and people with criminal cases in and out of the country (Chris Okemo). It is unheard of to expect Mutunga to bring corruption to 0% in a country where USD 1 billion in Euro bond vanishes ( bI know you say it was not stolen and look forward to when you will eat humble pie on this issue).

Is that a roundabout way to say he has failed but lets blame corruption? Why do you want him to get a free pass while UhuRuto get blamed for corruption in the executive? Who hired CEO Shollei and who should have been supervising her?

When you talk about new courts...I wonder where..coz the one I saw in Bomet has stalled for last few years?

[RV Pundit]

More lame excuses for somebody who was president of the judiciary and had basically a free reign. He unlikely UhuRuto is not encumbered by political consideration. He had a clean slate. Judiciary was vetted afresh.But what did he do? He never led. He was more interested in the rhetoric and reading speeches all over the world.

The man is a big failure. He was given 17B every year and what does he have to show. Backlog of 400,000 cases, corruption in courts is at same level,our courts are far from being modernized, more than 200,000 kenyans are in prison for crimes such as being drunk and disorderly and those prisons he keep sending people are in deplorable conditions.

I tend to disagree.

You listed corruption (150 billion being wasted) as evidence of shambles. I simply disagree and have given my reasons. If you can point at some other failure which can be attributed to him I would probably begin to see a distant hazy image of the shambles. Right now I see only a man who was honest, sincere and devoted to his work.or  He took firm action against corruption - firmer and more sincere than Uhuruto.

We have two judges facing investigations as we speak - both for corruption and both as a result of direct action by Mutunga. How many has Uhuru fired since he took office?  None of those found corrupt or incompetent have been brought back in to that arm of government. That is more than I can say for Uhuruto who keep recycling thieves and people with criminal cases in and out of the country (Chris Okemo). It is unheard of to expect Mutunga to bring corruption to 0% in a country where USD 1 billion in Euro bond vanishes ( bI know you say it was not stolen and look forward to when you will eat humble pie on this issue).

[Simanova]

Let me focus on the substance:
1. 400 000 backlog cases:

On its own it appears to be a failure. Until you discover that there were over 1 million such cases by the time he took over. Many of these cases had accumulated under the tenure of ALL past Chief Justices.

By 2014 Mutunga could report that the backlog had reduced from 1m to 485, 976. I do not have the latest figures but that should be under 300K cases.

Crucially a survey (Survey of Case Backlogs in the Country) was commissioned to determine the cause of these delays and it was established that:

• Parties being unprepared accounted for 44.78 percent of case delays
• courts not being in session (20.22 per cent)
• unpreparedness of probation officers account for 18.34
• lawyers (10.93 per cent).

From the above you can see that the direct role of the courts in this is less than that of the parties. There must be a balance between expediency and justice and that may be the reason for the courts being slow to hurry the parties. I can only speculate.
2. not encumbered by political consideration
Politics never stopped tying up the judiciary. Whether is Njoki moonlighting as Uhuru's consigliere or one or other High Court judge deep in politics. However I don't see how that whether present or absent could have affected Mutunga's job performance.

What did he fail to do given the political goodwill you allude to? I see him having done what he could without overturning the apple cart.

Just to recapitulate: We all saw what happened when he tried to stop Njoki's 30 minute injunction which she certified urgent but set the hearing weeks away! If you thought it was not politics, why then did Ruto block the publication of the vacancies in the Kenya gazette?
3. He was given 17B every year and what does he have to show
They would need to provide five times that amount to bring the courts to the level you are suggesting. There is also the Absorption Capacity which has dogged Kenya for the last 20 or so years following SAPs by the World Bank. I believe he has established the foundation upon which more money can be requested and absorbed in one financial cycle.

It was not about improving ALL courts. There were priority areas as result of limited funds. I am quite satisfied with the prioritization.

4. On 200,000 remanded prisoners
How is the judiciary responsible for that? Only yesterday you wanted MPs to stay remanded for a long time and were disappointed that they made bail. You are not alone in looking at remand as a punitive measure. It should be and it is to a point. Anything else has the potential to provoke the collective and popular perception of justice.

I do however think it should change.  Kindly lobby your MP to amend the laws so that one's sentence runs from the minute he is arrested. All such time served must then be deducted from the overall sentence. Mutunga could not single handedly amend the laws to empty prisons.

I also refer you to the survey I mentioned earlier.

5. He never led
Perhaps if you pointed at specific failings of or lack of leadership on his part it would help understand your meaning. Mutunga had is style which some like Njoki underrated but found themselves being stung. Leadership is not being overbearing and imperious complete with the regalia and nyayo stick to boot. Like Nyerere he was simple down to earth but aware of the power he wielded and exercised fairly. If you want a character like Miller why not, but then look at how his silence got the judges and magistrates working.

More lame excuses for somebody who was president of the judiciary and had basically a free reign. He unlikely UhuRuto is not encumbered by political consideration. He had a clean slate. Judiciary was vetted afresh.But what did he do? He never led. He was more interested in the rhetoric and reading speeches all over the world.

The man is a big failure. He was given 17B every year and what does he have to show. Backlog of 400,000 cases, corruption in courts is at same level,our courts are far from being modernized, more than 200,000 kenyans are in prison for crimes such as being drunk and disorderly and those prisons he keep sending people are in deplorable conditions.

http://www.judiciary.go.ke/portal/assets/filemanager_uploads/reports/National%20Case%20Audit%20Report.pdf

[RV Pundit]

You're nearly there. Just stop focusing on the politics and focus on justice systems for the average joe out there. Mutunga just like you guys are interested in the politics of Njoki or Uhuru or Ruto. Not on improving the justice systems for a drunkard or petty offender or land disputes cases that form  perhaps 95% of the cases in court. Has justice improve for these guys? Can we find indicators to show that? If not? What did Mutunga ask and fail to get? If I remember they've been getting nearly 95% of their budget. So resources wise he is okay or just not serious. Independence wise he has the damn constitution and the JSC.

Look at our court systems wholesomely.  If you're interested in this kind of debate we can easily find figures and compare what Mutunga found; and what he he is leaving. If as always you're interested in political intrigues then we can't get anywhere.

Let me focus on the substance:
1. 400 000 backlog cases:

On its own it appears to be a failure. Until you discover that there were over 1 million such cases by the time he took over. Many of these cases had accumulated under the tenure of ALL past Chief Justices.

By 2014 Mutunga could report that the backlog had reduced from 1m to 485, 976. I do not have the latest figures but that should be under 300K cases.

Crucially a survey (Survey of Case Backlogs in the Country) was commissioned to determine the cause of these delays and it was established that:

• Parties being unprepared accounted for 44.78 percent of case delays
• courts not being in session (20.22 per cent)
• unpreparedness of probation officers account for 18.34
• lawyers (10.93 per cent).

From the above you can see that the direct role of the courts in this is less than that of the parties. There must be a balance between expediency and justice and that may be the reason for the courts being slow to hurry the parties. I can only speculate.
2. not encumbered by political consideration
Politics never stopped tying up the judiciary. Whether is Njoki moonlighting as Uhuru's consigliere or one or other High Court judge deep in politics. However I don't see how that whether present or absent could have affected Mutunga's job performance.

What did he fail to do given the political goodwill you allude to? I see him having done what he could without overturning the apple cart.

Just to recapitulate: We all saw what happened when he tried to stop Njoki's 30 minute injunction which she certified urgent but set the hearing weeks away! If you thought it was not politics, why then did Ruto block the publication of the vacancies in the Kenya gazette?
3. He was given 17B every year and what does he have to show
They would need to provide five times that amount to bring the courts to the level you are suggesting. There is also the Absorption Capacity which has dogged Kenya for the last 20 or so years following SAPs by the World Bank. I believe he has established the foundation upon which more money can be requested and absorbed in one financial cycle.

It was not about improving ALL courts. There were priority areas as result of limited funds. I am quite satisfied with the prioritization.

4. On 200,000 remanded prisoners
How is the judiciary responsible for that? Only yesterday you wanted MPs to stay remanded for a long time and were disappointed that they made bail. You are not alone in looking at remand as a punitive measure. It should be and it is to a point. Anything else has the potential to provoke the collective and popular perception of justice.

I do however think it should change.  Kindly lobby your MP to amend the laws so that one's sentence runs from the minute he is arrested. All such time served must then be deducted from the overall sentence. Mutunga could not single handedly amend the laws to empty prisons.

I also refer you to the survey I mentioned earlier.

5. He never led
Perhaps if you pointed at specific failings of or lack of leadership on his part it would help understand your meaning. Mutunga had is style which some like Njoki underrated but found themselves being stung. Leadership is not being overbearing and imperious complete with the regalia and nyayo stick to boot. Like Nyerere he was simple down to earth but aware of the power he wielded and exercised fairly. If you want a character like Miller why not, but then look at how his silence got the judges and magistrates working.

More lame excuses for somebody who was president of the judiciary and had basically a free reign. He unlikely UhuRuto is not encumbered by political consideration. He had a clean slate. Judiciary was vetted afresh.But what did he do? He never led. He was more interested in the rhetoric and reading speeches all over the world.

The man is a big failure. He was given 17B every year and what does he have to show. Backlog of 400,000 cases, corruption in courts is at same level,our courts are far from being modernized, more than 200,000 kenyans are in prison for crimes such as being drunk and disorderly and those prisons he keep sending people are in deplorable conditions.

http://www.judiciary.go.ke/portal/assets/filemanager_uploads/reports/National%20Case%20Audit%20Report.pdf

[RV Pundit]

Let start here...Latest statistics we have on Judiciary & Prison (which partially fall under Judiciary)..compares 2015/2014..according to KNBS..economy survey 2016

In the year under review, crimes reported to the police increased by 4.5 per cent to 72,490
cases while persons reported to the police to have committed crimes decreased by 8.3 per
cent from 34,561 in 2014 to 31,695 in 2015.

Cases filed in courts decreased from 500,349 in 2014 to 330,553 in 2015 with cases disposed of declined by about 31 per cent to 247,743.
However, pending cases grew by 13.6 per cent to 693,100 in 2015. The number of judicial
officers increased from 623 in 2014 to 666.

Prison population declined by 10.6 per cent from 248,390 in 2014 to 221,974 in 2015. Daily
Average Prison Population (DAP) decreased from 55,270 to 54,631 inmates during the year
under review. The number of offenders serving probation and community service orders
increased by 13.4 per cent to 13,422 and 27.5 per cent 43,380 respectively

[RV Pundit]

Here is newspaper take on the same.

Mutunga judiciary has imprisoned 3 times more than previous CJ. Imprisoned and remanded people in filty cells that last saw reforms in Moddy Awori times. You'd be suprised that bulk of these prisoners are in for really petty crimes...like being drunk and disordely..while majority who escaped..have had to sell their prized cow to pay up the fines...that are imposed by Mutunga's judiciary.

Of course these are the bottomline statistics that are boring coz we want to focus on few headline cases and intrigues. Not on the average mwananchi daily interraction with the judiciary and whether there has been any change post 2010.

http://www.sde.co.ke/thenairobian/article/2000203603/report-number-of-convicts-in-kenyan-prisons-has-tripled-since-2010

[RV Pundit]

Page 258 has nice diagram of Mutunga failed legacy that show a headless judiciary 4 yr case load led by a shakespear wannabe.

[Simanova]

Prison conditions vs Judicial decisions in my opinion are two non converging subjects. If 2 million people appear before the courts and convicted of murder, rape and other offences, it is up to the prisons (GoK) to absorb the same and care for them. The CJ and the Judiciary are expected to render justice regardless of the prison conditions. Indeed they are separate entities with Prions coming under the Executive Arm of government.

I could add that the poor conditions in the remand cells are not to be blamed on the cJ or the Judiciary. This is the job of the state.  May be we should be examining the budget of the Corrections Department to see how it is used. I have seen new prisons but these may only address the increased population and not the existing terrible conditions therein.

I have been for the idea of privatizing some of the prisons while making increased use of serving time in freedom. The use of electronic devices and house confinement could be way to go.

None of these however can be blamed on the CJ. I come from the school that wants to see faster convictions marked by harsher penalties for criminals. That will of course increase the prison population putting pressure on GoK to act.

If there are frivolous charges then blame the police and the MPs for that. In many countries the police take decisions not to prosecute certain offences. For example charging persons from Kibera and Mathare with the use of bhang is a monumental waste of good time and energy. They smoke it daily and such a charge is just usumbufu. i.e no impact whatsoever!Again it is Tobiko and the IG to determine the best use of their time and money.
 

Here is newspaper take on the same.

Mutunga judiciary has imprisoned 3 times more than previous CJ. Imprisoned and remanded people in filty cells that last saw reforms in Moddy Awori times. You'd be suprised that bulk of these prisoners are in for really petty crimes...like being drunk and disordely..while majority who escaped..have had to sell their prized cow to pay up the fines...that are imposed by Mutunga's judiciary.

Of course these are the bottomline statistics that are boring coz we want to focus on few headline cases and intrigues. Not on the average mwananchi daily interraction with the judiciary and whether there has been any change post 2010.

http://www.sde.co.ke/thenairobian/article/2000203603/report-number-of-convicts-in-kenyan-prisons-has-tripled-since-2010

[Simanova]

I want to argue that Prisons do not come under the judiciary at all.

I think any increase of cases to courts would be welcome and end the many Kangaroo courts in police stations where "fines" end up in police pockets. The State could come in allow the police to levy fines under the direction of state counsels attached to each police station. The proceedings are then filed in the nearest court and form a criminal record of the finee. Again there nothing to blame the CJ for.

The slow disposal may be attributed to multiple factors not least the police or defendants / advocates not being ready to proceed. Of course adjournments emanating from the courts should be reduced.

• Parties being unprepared accounted for 44.78 percent of case delays
• courts not being in session (20.22 per cent)
• unpreparedness of probation officers account for 18.34
• lawyers (10.93 per cent).[/color][/i]

Let start here...Latest statistics we have on Judiciary & Prison (which partially fall under Judiciary)..compares 2015/2014..according to KNBS..economy survey 2016

In the year under review, crimes reported to the police increased by 4.5 per cent to 72,490 cases while persons reported to the police to have committed crimes decreased by 8.3 per cent from 34,561 in 2014 to 31,695 in 2015.

Cases filed in courts decreased from 500,349 in 2014 to 330,553 in 2015 with cases disposed of declined by about 31 per cent to 247,743.
However, pending cases grew by 13.6 per cent to 693,100 in 2015. The number of judicial officers increased from 623 in 2014 to 666.

Prison population declined by 10.6 per cent from 248,390 in 2014 to 221,974 in 2015. Daily Average Prison Population (DAP) decreased from 55,270 to 54,631 inmates during the year
under review. The number of offenders serving probation and community service orders increased by 13.4 per cent to 13,422 and 27.5 per cent 43,380 respectively

[RV Pundit]

Simanova,
1) I think prisons falls in btw judiciary and the executive. That is why Mutunga and judges routinely visits prisons. You cannot be sending people to death chambers. You're suppose to send them to correctional facilities. If not...you' have the discretion to send them for community services? Judges  and magistrate have a lot of discretion in sentencing people...and Mutunga has not done anything different from his predecessors to have justice systems that is fair.The police & DPP are less than the magistrate in terms of power to terminate frivolous cases and to hand in fair sentences. have been to court...and you can see the magistrate doing guess work in the fine and sentences they issues.
 
2) Let me try again with a picture of Mutunga caseload from 2011 to 2015. It very clear from the diagram that Mutunga has failed. As of last year the backload was 700k (Mutunga before he left claims the backlog was 400k). Apart from 2011 where there seem to have been some improvement; it seem downhill from then. Now people are filling in less cases..meaning they are being discouraged by the long wait. If I recall 2yrs ago...we wanted to file a land case..and I was told the hearing date would be in 2015!...that was another 2yrs.

I'd love to get the data from 2009...so we can conclude what an EPIC failure this guy was.

I am glad we are now talking judiciary as whole. Not a few high profile cases. Maybe we can throw some perception polling from average mwananachi and the business community on whether they expect justice or not...after Mutunga "reformed" the judiciary.

Reforming judiciary is not making speeches all over the world...it making the court work for average kenyan. Nobody can dispute that Moody Awori made reforms in prisons. Those reforms worked for everyone. He didn't create a five star prison for the top guys. That is all we ask for the next CJ.

Mutunga tried late in the day to reign the traffic cops....by issue regulations that allows every petty traffic offender the right to bail...those of the KIND OF REFORMS...we want to hear about. Not Njoki verus Mutunga political and legal intrigues in Nairobi.

[Simanova]

Pundit

Before I respond in line to what you have written here are some references to refresh your basic knowledge of government:
The Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government is one of two Ministries housed within the Presidency (Directly under Uhuru). It is a successor to the former Ministries of Internal Security, Immigration and Home Affairs. Uhuru departed from the Kenyatta I, Moi and Kibaki regimes' practices of giving those departments autonomy. He also departed from the tradition of giving the DP the Home Affairs department / ministry.

This Ministry focuses on two areas:

A. Interior
Interior functions including internal security covering Police, Immigration, Prisons and Correctional services.

Department of Coordination
The State Department of Coordination of National Government oversees the functions of the;
> Kenya Prisons Service
> Probation and Aftercare Service
> Betting Control and Licensing.
The Kenya Prisons Service is a unique institution with a combination of both uniformed and civilian personnel who provide support services to the uniformed personnel.

(The story for another day: Uhuru did illegally include police under that ministry and take away its independence in policy, procurement and now operations.)

The Judiciary of Kenya consists of Superior courts made up of:
1. The Supreme Court,
2. The Court of Appeals,
3. The High Court,
4. The Industrial Court,
5. The Environment and Land Court.
6. Subordinate Courts (consisting of:)
i. Magistrate Court,
ii. Courts Martial and
iii. Kadhi Court.
7. Administration within the Judiciary

That is ALL.

Please pay heed to the principle of Separation of Powers where if the Judiciary or parliament were to "administer" or "co-administer" the prisons, it would be infringing on the rights, duties and autonomy of the Executive. Judges can visit prisons and remand homes and make recommendations to the prison authorities under section 73(1) of s the Prisons Act, allow me to quote:

A rather limited role of an "observer", would you not say?
Now let us look at what you wrote that is not covered by the above:

Simanova,
1) I think prisons falls in btw judiciary and the executive. That is why Mutunga and judges routinely visits prisons. You cannot be sending people to death chambers. You're suppose to send them to correctional facilities. If not...you' have the discretion to send them for community services? Judges  and magistrate have a lot of discretion in sentencing people...and Mutunga has not done anything different from his predecessors to have justice systems that is fair.The police & DPP are less than the magistrate in terms of power to terminate frivolous cases and to hand in fair sentences. have been to court...and you can see the magistrate doing guess work in the fine and sentences they issues.

THE OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS ACT, 2013
25. (1) The Director may, with the permission of the court, discontinue a prosecution commenced by the Director, any person or authority at any stage before delivery of
judgement.
(2) Pending the permission by the court in accordance with subsection (1), the Director may apply orally or in writing to the court for a stay of proceedings with a view that such proceedings may be taken over by the Director to prevent and avoid abuse of the legal process and to protect the public interest

I may add that there are very few cases where the courts have rejected a nolle prosequi. entered by the DPP. In fact I only know of one before this act. That said, the DPP can simply opt not to start the case in the first place. He can inform the IG that the police shall henceforth not investigate, arrest or prepare for prosecution persons for specific offences such as you listed. It is within his powers. The Government and politicians can make noise but that's politics.

Mutunga could have done the same but it won't be binding and it would most likely be struck down by some conservative high court judge, without ceremony and much contempt.

2) Let me try again with a picture of Mutunga caseload from 2011 to 2015. It very clear from the diagram that Mutunga has failed. As of last year the backload was 700k (Mutunga before he left claims the backlog was 400k). Apart from 2011 where there seem to have been some improvement; it seem downhill from then. Now people are filling in less cases..meaning they are being discouraged by the long wait. If I recall 2yrs ago...we wanted to file a land case..and I was told the hearing date would be in 2015!...that was another 2yrs.

You are refusing to take in and appreciate the reasons given for the backlogs and are determined to blame just one of the sides causing the backlog. Need I repost the findings of the survey for the third time? Do we know if all the delays were cause by absent judges?

I'd love to get the data from 2009...so we can conclude what an EPIC failure this guy was.

I am glad we are now talking judiciary as whole. Not a few high profile cases. Maybe we can throw some perception polling from average mwananachi and the business community on whether they expect justice or not...after Mutunga "reformed" the judiciary.

Reforming judiciary is not making speeches all over the world...it making the court work for average kenyan. Nobody can dispute that Moody Awori made reforms in prisons. Those reforms worked for everyone. He didn't create a five star prison for the top guys. That is all we ask for the next CJ.

Mutunga tried late in the day to reign the traffic cops....by issue regulations that allows every petty traffic offender the right to bail...those of the KIND OF REFORMS...we want to hear about. Not Njoki versus Mutunga political and legal intrigues in Nairobi.

He did. Not because he has power over the police but because the authority to issue fines has been delegated / loaned to the police. It was within his powers to restate it. Note that it was not new. The police simply started abusing it to harass matutus that refused to pay the Money Collecting Cartel in the Police and Ministry of Interior.

[RV Pundit]

Simanova,

I see you're still frantically looking for excuses for our failed Dr Mutunga. He has a role in how prison are run. You can call him observer but that I doubt is what the law intended that way --he is actually a supervisor whose recommendation shall be implemented. He can refuses to sentence people to death chambers if his recommendation are not being heeded. He can refuse to remand criminals to prisons and grant them free bail...until the prison do XYZ. That is what you want the judiciary doing...in the spirit of seperation of powers...it doesn't mean look the other side..it mean COUNTER CHECKING the executive.

On backlog...the judge/magistrate has the overall control of the schedule..if someone is wasting court time and resources...the cases get thrown out. This allows me to file my new case and get hearing dates that are resoanble. That is what you want Mutunga doing. Issue guidelines to deal with backlog...for instance 45% (according to stats you have) are due parties being unprepared...Dr Mutunga ought to do something about that...as the president of judiciary..he can guide the lower courts on what to if parties are unprepared. 20% of court not being in session falls entirely on him....hire more magistrates and establish more courts. I can speak for kericho-bomet..and post mutunga..the only addition is the uncompleted bomet high court...there are now lower courts established despite 5 times more money he gets than before.

The fact is thanks to backlog (whatever  the reason) if you file a case now---you're likely get hearing dates of next year. Is there any justice there???????????? No. As of last year we had a growing backlog problem of 690K cases...Mutunga inherited about 1M (less say)....but 4yrs and so much more money later..the problem is still as serious as it was.

We can find all the lame excuses until we admit this was someone unprepared; someone who refused to lead; someone who think his job is to read speeches this week in toronto next week in new york? rather than making a justice system that works for wanjiku!!!

If I was to compare UhuRuto with Mutunga. I'd say without doubt huRuto have done far more than Mutunga. UhuRuto are less focussed on the political intrigues but how XYZ will benefit mwananchi directly...be it schools kids getting laptops, mother giving birth in hospitals for free, more people getting connected to electricity grid, etc etc....those are the stuff that transform our societies....not copious speeches all over the world...of self-praise!