By Magdalene Mukami
NAIROBI
Kenyan Chief Justice William Mutunga and nearly 7,000 lawyers nationwide on Monday began providing free legal services for thousands of Kenyans.
"The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) will not only provide services to the poor and powerless, it will also extend services to the powerful and the unaware," Mutunga told a news conference at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi.
As part of the week-long free service, the lawyers will also educate the public on how legal processes work.
"Civic education is required, both for the masses as it is for the elite," said Mutunga.
He insisted that recent criticism of the judiciary suggested that "the elite don't understand how court processes work, or, if they do, they still need to be educated on why they still need to respect those same processes."
Mutunga said the number of lawyers in the country was so small that they could not serve a population of over 40 million Kenyans efficiently.
"A recent study by the Judiciary Performance Directorate found that Kenyans filed 54,000 cases in the high court alone," he added.
"The judiciary has 90 judges, which means that, on average, each judge has 600 cases from one year alone," the chief justice said.
"Even if more than 90 judges were sitting throughout the year without weekends and holidays, it would take about three years to conclude one year's matter," he asserted.
Justice
Dawood Hamoud Farrah, a 34-year-old advocate, said their aim was to bring justice closer to the people of Kenya.
"The purpose of the event is to provide civic awareness to the public that we are with them," he told Anadolu Agency.
"People who have cases or claims but don't know how to proceed, we tell them what to do here and there," Farrah explained. "We give them a sense of direction on how to proceed."
He said the least amount any advocate could charge is around 30,000 Kenyan shillings (roughly $335).
"So if a client is coming here ordinarily they [advocates] should have charged you, but now we are coming here to give time for free," Farrah told AA.
Joshua Njeru, a businessman, said he was completely satisfied with the free legal services.
"The services were good and the advice was useful," he told AA.
"They have advised me to go to places where I can get further advice, more affordable rates, or even some organizations which do legal assistance for free," added Njeru.
Rosemary Rotich, who has a land dispute with her neighbor, was equally content with the free services.
"She was really nice; she explained so much to me," she told AA, referring to the lawyer who advised her.
"At least now I know how I can recover my land," said Rotich. "I have followed up on this matter for long, but I have never been successful – and the process itself was so expensive."
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