Chief Justice Martha Koome has urged the newly-elected Principal Judge of the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) Justice Byram Ongaya and his team to focus on the 2,843 cases which are in court during his first 100 days in office.

Koome said Justice Ongaya and his team should come up with strategies and interventions that will ensure the cases are cleared by June. She said the ELRC has a total of 11,800 pending cases and a backlog of 9,582 cases, of which 2,843 cases have stayed in the court beyond the Judiciary’s Social Transformation through Access of Justice benchmark of three years.

Koome was speaking on Friday during the installation ceremony of Justice Ongaya as the principal judge of the ELRC at Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi.

 Justice Ongaya is taking over from the Principal Judge, Justice Maureen Onyango.

The CJ said that over the past five years, the ELRC referred 433 matters in Nairobi to Court Annexed Mediation, noting that the trend indicates there is room for deepening the uptake of mediation in employment and labour relations disputes.

Paperless judiciary

With the appointment of nine more judges last year, the number of judges of ELRC has increased to 21, placing the court in a position to manage its current caseload, said the CJ. “I urge ELRC to lead in developing a paperless judiciary where court rooms are hosted on the cloud and litigants accorded the flexibility of virtual proceedings,” said Koome.

She added that such a system would protect and preserve the gains brought about by e-filing and virtual proceedings.

“You should also continue the process of entrenching our multi-door approach to access to justice. The ELRC should encourage conciliation and mediation as alternatives to court adjudication in the spirit of section 15 of the Employment and Labour Relations Court Act.

She commended Justice Onyango for her service and leadership of the ELRC over the past five years, a period in which the court grew in leaps and bounds — both in terms of the quality of its jurisprudence as reflected in impressive case load.

The CJ said the transition in ELRC  leadership provides an opportunity to reflect on the critical role played by the court in ensuring access to justice and realisation of the Constitution’s vision of a socially just State and society.

“This court plays a critical role in hearing cases on employment and labour and advancing the goal of industrial justice by promoting peace and harmony in the workplace through just settlement of disputes between employers and employees,” she said. “This has ensured that our labour law jurisprudence strikes the desired balance of ensuring that the law and labour practices are not harsh but humane to the workers of our country whilst at the same time ensuring that our country remains a competitive investment destination to foreign and domestic investors,” she added.

The CJ disclosed that ELRC has been gradually improving in service delivery, citing a Case Clearance Rate of 118 per cent in the First Quarter of the Financial Year 2022/2023, which she was a reduction in case backlog in July to September 2022.

Automation and technology

This has been achieved through a continuous process involving new initiatives to improving institutional performance — like automation and leveraging on technology in service delivery — and embracing performance management, she stated.

“Our expectation, as the Judiciary leadership, and the expectations by Kenyans, is that the principal judge, the judges, judiciary staff, and the court users of ELRC will come up with interventions to ensure timely delivery of justice,” she stressed.

She said the Social Transformation through Access to Justice Vision for the Judiciary pursues an agenda that intends to ensure that the delivery of justice is efficient and prompt. The CJ encouraged all members to support the principal judge to re-examine their practices and re-engineer them to improve ELRC’s efficiency.

“We have now set our benchmark for expedited delivery of justice to be the goal of ensuring that no court case stays in a trial court for more than three years, and no more than one year on appeal, ” said the CJ.

She encouraged all members to support the principal judge to re-examine their practices and re-engineer them to improve the efficiency of ELRC.

ELRC being the doorway to the resolution of labour disputes, should be the driver of the social justice jurisprudence in that area, noting that a jurisprudence that is responsive to social context and the social-economic transformation imperatives of the 2010 Constitution.

She added that jurisprudence promotes social and the interest of employers and employees of the people who are the ultimate justice and beneficiaries of the industrial activities.

CJ said it should be an indigenous jurisprudence that serves not only the Judiciary purpose but can also be exported to other jurisdictions.