EXECUTIVE SUMMERY
With great interest and focus on the criminal justice, I was totally convinced that the best place to get the expected satisfaction was with the Judiciary institution since I could have an opportunity to interact with the victims effectively, suspects, witnesses, advocates, judges and other relevant stakeholders such as the prosecutors and the police as well as activists. This is, therefore, what aroused me to such for court as the most appropriate organization.
After immediately signing off from the class sessions by concluding the third academic year, I made an application letter to various organizations, including the Nairobi City County Government as well as the Milimani High Court of Kenya, Nairobi.
By this, I had to take a pre-application inquiry with the organization to know if the institution has a place for The criminology professionals and if an opportunity could be available at the moment for an attaché.
At the Chief Executive’s Office, expressed me to him after which he decided to put me under some oral test and assessments. The in-charge CEO- Mr. D. Orienya- later advised me to forward my testimonials any time thereafter to his office. I complied and after a few minutes, I was served with the acceptance letter plus the excerpt of rules and regulations I would abide by during my attachment period. He then orally took me through the terms and conditions- elaborating the conduct and expected dress code to keep throughout the attachment period that would begin the next day 25th of May 2015.
Some of the codes I had to abide by whenceforth the attachment described that;
The organization shall never sign any financial obligation with me during the attachment session of 12 weeks. This would mean that I had to cater to my commutation expenses, the meals maintenance at the work plus any medical service independent of the organization’s any involvement ( from not-their concern source).
I was also expected to work for seven hours each and every day, beginning from the arrival time which was 8.00 am till 5.00 pm in the, a condition that would be enforced by cloaking at the entrance and signing the attendance book routinely. Any absence would also only be acknowledged and recognized only after privy request of permission from the in-charge immediate supervisor – indicating all the valid reasons to aver the absence or the lateness. The day only had two in-between breaks, the breakfast and the lunch break that were strictly scheduled for at 10.30 am and 1.00 pm respectively.
Within the period prescribed, I was also never expected to sign any document or certify any transaction of any business through my signature or the organization’s stamp unless the immediately available staff authorizes me to do so under limited conditions and full supervision and elaboration. This was to limit any error or loss to clients or even the organization itself, which would be caused by ignorance or lack of adequate experience through my actions.
During the full period, I was to work and perform all duties as an attaché, meaning anything to carry out was after the authorization by the supervisor or as an assistant to the staff after the direction and assignment by the relevant staff.
2.O INTRODUCTION
2.3 MISSION
To deliver justice fairly, impartially and expeditiously, promote equal access to justice, and advance local jurisprudence by upholding the rule of law.
2.1 BRIEF HISTORY
During pre-colonial times, cases were administered by a council of elders known by different names among various native communities. With the establishment of colonial rule, court systems were introduced.
The judicial system in Kenya emanated its origin from the Berri conference of 1885. The general Act that resulted from this and the Brussel’s conference imposed a duty on the signatory countries to establish a system of justice on their domain in Africa and underlined the importance of setting up judicial institutions.
The colonial government through several regulations and orders in a council established various courts to cater to the dual system of justice, with one system for Europeans and the other for Africans.
These started with the East Africa order of council of 1887 and culminated in court ordinance of 1931. The establishment of three classes of subordinate courts namely Resident magistrates, Provincial commissioners, District commissioner’s court.
Presently the court system in Kenya is made up of different types of courts which have been established according to the provisions of the constitution, the judicature Act (cap 8) the magistrate’s courts (cap 10) and the Kadhi’s court Act (cap11).
2.1.1 The high court, Nairobi
The establishment of the high court in Kenya dates back to the adoption of the East Africa order in council of 1887. This was the final court of Appeal for the East Africa protectorate, which later split creating the need for each member library to establish its own court system. The high court was initially located in Mombasa before being transferred to Nairobi and was originally known as Supreme Court. The high court of Kenya serves as the headquarter of the judiciary in the Republic of Kenya. It houses Kenya court of appeal, the high court, Nairobi branch, and the resident’s magistrate courts.
2.1.3 The high court commercial and admiralty registry.
The high court commercial and admiralty division is a section of the high court that deals with complex cases arising out of business disputes, both national and international. There is a great emphasis on;
- International trade
- Banking disputes
- Commodity disputes
- Arbitration disputes.
In the commercial and admiralty registry, several types of records are found;
Civil cases: lawsuit brought to address private wrongs such as breach of contract, or negligence or to enforce civil remedies such as compensation damages, injunction. Also called civil action, civil proceedings or civil suit. In the commercial registry, there are different types of civil cases that include, high court civil cases (HCCC), Miscellaneous cases (MISC), Bankruptcy notes (BN), Bankruptcy causes (BC), Winding up causes (WC), and Income Tax Appeals (ITA).
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- High court civil case; civil cases involve conflicts between people or institutions such as businesses, typically over money. A civil case usually begins when one person or business (the plaintiff) claims to have been harmed by the actions of another person or business (the defendant) and asks the court for relief by filing a complaint and starting a court case. The plaintiff may ask the court to award damages (money to compensate the plaintiff for any harm suffered), or may ask for an injunction to prevent the defendant from doing something or to require the defendant to do something, or may seek a declaratory judgment in which the court determines the parties’ rights under a contract or statute.
- Miscellaneous case; Miscellaneous case numbers are normally assigned to a variety of matters filed with the court which is not considered a civil case. They are ancillary and supplementary proceedings not defined as a civil action. If the miscellaneous case is contested before a judge, it then receives a civil case number. Miscellaneous cases could be directly or indirectly related to a case. Miscellaneous actions require resolution through the judicial system.
- Bankruptcy note and Bankruptcy cause; a bankruptcy note is a legal and binding contract or agreement between two or more individuals to repay a debt according to specified conditions. In most cases, the bankruptcy note includes a time frame in which the debt or loan must be paid as well as agreed-upon terms pertaining to the payoff. Some notes can include what is called an acceleration clause. This means the debt balance must be paid in its entirety if payments are not made regularly and on time as outlined in the original agreement.
- Winding up the cause; these are cases that involve the process of selling all the assets of a business, paying off creditors, distributing any remaining assets to the principals or parent company, and then dissolving the business. Winding up can refer to such a process either for a specific business line of a corporation or to the dissolution of a corporation itself.
- Income Tax appeal; Tax cases deal solely with tax disputes, which may involve the valuation of real property, the amount of tax the state or federal revenue agency seeks to collect, or the tax status of a pension plan or a charitable organization.
Minutes: The minutes are compiled by the clerk of the court. The clerk briefly records all actions of the court on a single day. Minutes are particularly useful when indexes and dockets cannot be located; they usually list the plaintiff and defendant in the case and state the action taken. They are normally organized chronologically but are rarely indexed.
Orders: The recorded orders of the court can be found in almost every jurisdiction. They generally present a concise summary of the case and state the judgment to be carried out. It is worth noting that appointments of guardians, memorials, naturalizations, and re-recordings of deeds, especially before this century, are often recorded in the order books. In addition, a variety of other administrative data from the locality was also recorded frequently.
The judiciary is a government-owned institution that is endowed with the responsibility of administration of justice and the compilation and the dissemination of case law and other legal information for the effective administration of justice.
The establishment of the high court in Kenya dates back to the adoption of the East Africa order in council of 1887. This was the final court of Appeal for the East Africa protectorate, which later split creating the need for each member library to establish its own court system. The high court was initially located in Mombasa before being transferred to Nairobi and was originally known as Supreme Court. The high court of Kenya serves as the headquarter of the judiciary in the Republic of Kenya. It houses Kenya court of appeal, the high court, Nairobi branch, and the resident’s magistrate courts.
Currently, the Milimani High Court brags of having several courts and divisions that handle various matters of disputes depending on the various classifications of the disputes. The divisions within includes;
- The Criminal Division;
This division is endowed with power and responsibility to handle and decide on disputes involving some criminal offenses that must have engaged some physical harms and damages caused to the state, organizations as well as individual persons.
Matters here may include such cases as murder, manslaughter, terrorism, arson, drug trafficking, poaching, battering and serious assaults and other closely relevant matters. This division has got up to five active courts that operate daily.
This division has its own registry where people pertaining to the matters tackled with are kept and operated from.
- The Immigration Division
The division is charged with the responsibility of few justices and controlling lawlessness in relation to movements of persons within the country and into the country.
It is therefore expected to settle disputes between the state and individuals who engage in improper movements and settle conflicts of disobedience of immigration prescriptions through verification and certification of documents of movements. This division hence has the capacity to determine whether an individual is legally inside the country or unlawfully detained by the state under immature allegations.
This division has one courtroom since the matters handled takes equally shorter time to verify and issue judgments upon.
- The Constructional Division
This division is set to handle matters and situations that expose constitutional disputes and misunderstandings by respective parties involved. It is therefore placed with powers to make a final interpretation of the constitution to the parties and explain constitutional prescription when the element of ambiguity are observed during the interpretation.
It also assists in explaining and interpreting the bylaws made by various corporations and organizations that may later be under threat of pass or abuse by the practitioners or parties related.
The court also creates clarification especially on circumstances where the constitution is in conflict with the cultural norms and traditional customs.
This division has only one courtroom since it handles limited numbers of cases.
- The Traffic Division
The division is charged with the role of handling traffic disputes within the stakeholders or between the traffic stakeholders and the state.
Here verification of documents and licenses is done. Interpretation of traffic rules is done and definitions of relative laws are conducted.
Penalties of traffic laws offenders are also issued at this division to appropriate related individuals.
This court also settles disputes that exist between motorists and matatu SACCOs such as the operation routes as well as on the affairs of the employers and employees in the transport industry.
Others may include an overload of the vehicles, transportation of suspicious persons or goods.
- Anti-corruption Division
This is the division unit that is majorly concerned with identifying the individual’s ethical malpractices and fraud that would threaten the procedural process of procurement or employment or discharge of duty as well as misappropriate resource for personal benefits.
It, therefore, engages most of its roles on fighting integrity breaches and underhand activities.
- Children’s division
This division is charged with the responsibility of hearing matters and issues whereby a juvenile is in conflict with the law. It assists in comfortably handling cases where juveniles have been involving as the perpetrators of the actions or as the immediate victims of an act of offense.
It also takes the center stage where matters of irresponsibility are observed from either of the child’s parents towards the kid.
The children’s division also tends to outline and elaborate the regulations and prescriptions to individuals and organizations planning to adopt children as their guardians and parents.
This division has its own registry where all the preparations of matters are conducted plus two courtrooms where hearings and judgments are made.
- The Lands Division.
This division has the mandate to conduct judicial proceedings and settling disputes of land-related in nature.
The division is greatly concerned with settling conflicting title deeds, determination of land ownership as well as identification of land ownership.
It is also responsible for protecting the natural state of the land from deterioration and land abuse and misuse such as inappropriate engagement of mining activities.
