Over 700 cases of Judicial malpractice reported in last 5 years – Ombudsman

Over 700 cases of maladministration by the judiciary have been reported in the last 5 years, with 60 percent of those cases yet to be resolved.

According to the Commission on Administrative Justice (Office of the Ombudsman), the complaints which implicate magistrates and judges relate to unlawful conduct, bribery, and abuse of power.

“The complaints relate to the delay in issuing judgements, inefficiency, unresponsive official conduct, unlawful official conduct, manifest injustice, unfair treatment, abuse of power, and discourtesy,” said Commission Chairperson Charles Dulo, in a statement on Tuesday.

“Some complaints raise serious issues such as fraudulent access to money from the judiciary's deposit account, fraudulent use of deposited security through doctored proceedings, solicitation of bribes, inordinate delay in delivering judgments, and delivering 'air judgments'.”

The report also reveals that 398 cases, representing 57%, are pending, while 302, representing 43%, have been resolved.

In addition, there are a total of 449 delayed cases, with 91 of them being attributed to inefficiency.

"There is a complaint against a judge who refused to issue a judgment, but instead issued a counterclaim involving wealth worth Ksh.56 million,” said Dulo.

The Ombudsman, further expressed frustration over the handling of the matter by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

"We officially wrote to them on the 23rd of last year, but they dismissed us, stating that we don't have jurisdiction to inquire about the complaints,” said Dulo.