President of the Court of Appeal justice Daniel Musinga has appealed for appointment of more judges as number of pending cases rises.
According to justice Musinga, the court has 20 judges, two of whom have other responsibilities while two others are set to retire next year.
Justices Mohamed Warsame and Kathurima M’inoti are the court’s representative in the Judicial Service Commission and East African Court of Justice’s appeals chamber, respectively.
Read: Court of Appeal Suspends Order Compelling Uhuru to Appoint Rejected Judges
“Ukiondoa hao 2, tunabaki na majaji 18, kati yao, kumbuka tuko na watatu hapa Mombasa, na watatu kule Kisumu, wengine unapata wako leave, na hivyo kila siku, wale judges wako duty ni kama 15 hivi,” he said.
He added: “I believe if we had a capacity of about 25 or 26 judges, this kind of a backlog would not be there, we had not too long ago come down to about 4,000 pending cases, but you can see in the last two or so years, the number has doubled.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta declined to appoint four of the judges recommended to join the appellate court, over integrity concerns.
Read Also: President Uhuru Appeals High Court Ruling Ordering Appointment of Six Judges in 14 Days
The four are; Aggrey Muchelule, Weldon Korir, Prof. Joel Ngugi and George Odunga.
In October, three High Court judges; George Dulu, William Musyoka and James Wakiaga, gave the head of state 14 days to appoint the judges, an order that had since been appealed by Chief Justice Martha Koome and the latter.
At least 2,500 cases are filed at the Court of Appeal, out of which, 1,250 are dealt with each year hence the backlog.
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