CJ Koome says all courts to resume normal physical working hours

Chief Justice Martha Koome has said that all courts countrywide will resume normal physical working hours from 9am-5pm.

This is in line with reduced cases of COVID-19 in the country, which prompted President Uhuru Kenyatta to lift the curfew and relax other containment measures during his Mashujaa Day address.

According to CJ Koome, however, court stations shall still be required to ensure strict adherence to the coronavirus mitigation guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health.

These include social distancing, proper wearing of masks and sanitization, as well as regular sanitization/fumigation of court premises.

The CS also stated that the use of technology that was adopted by the Judiciary on the onset of the pandemic will not be fully abandoned as courts will still be free to use either virtual or physical hearings depending on the circumstances.

“All courts shall operate from Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:OOp.m unless otherwise authorized by the Chief Justice,” said the CJ in a memo dated October 28, 2021.

She then, during a roundtable with members of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) on Monday, stated:

 “The Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Commercial Court in Milimani will continue to conduct most hearings virtually even as we try to solve the technical challenges we have faced with other courts and ensure that they can also conduct most of their business virtually depending on the circumstances,”

“Regarding court access, following the President’s directives of 20th October, I have already given instructions that physical hearings can resume but this is left to the innovations of the Court User Committees (CUCs) and the Bar-Bench Committees to come up with localised modalities that respond to their specific contexts on limiting the number of those to attend court at instances, and which court processes should continue to be carried online.”