Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The Judiciary could soon be allowed to employ 40 more Court of Appeal judges to enable it to deal with the current backlog of cases.

However, this will only happen if President William Ruto signs into law the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendment) Bill passed by the National Assembly on Wednesday.

MPs approved amendments to the Judicature Act, a move that will see the number of Appellate judges increased to 70, up from the current 30. However, judges of the High Court shall remain at 150 as provided for in Section 7 (2) of the Judicature Act.

The decision of the House came after the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) chaired by Tharaka MP George Murugara (pictured) withdrew its earlier amendments that had proposed that judges be increased by 45 after it rejected the earlier proposal from the judiciary of 70 judges.

In its argument, the committee through the vice chair and Kibwezi West MP Mwengi Mutuse noted they made the changes as the increment to have the judges increased to 70 taking into account the current caseload in courts and the fact that the court establishes panels of three judges per matter.

Said Mutuse: “Chair, the committee is seeking to drop the proposed amendment to section 7(1) of the Judicature Act (Cap.8) by deleting the word “seventy” and substituting therefore the word “forty-five”. We want to remain with 70.”