E-JUSTICE: DEFINE STEPS BY THE JUDICIARY OF KENYA

Abstract

The Promulgation of the Kenyan Constitution in August of 2010 brought a breadth of freshness to many institutions in the country. The Judiciary as the third arm of the government, has carefully propped itself and is currently playing a very decisive role in realization of the constitutional ideals for Kenya. This paper attempts to give an elaborate framework that the Judiciary has put in place and practiced for the last 3 years in her ambition to become the first fully paperless court in Africa. This paper also looks at the staff composition and does a comparative analysis with other jurisdictions in Africa especially South Africa and Uganda. It looks at the ICT usability and the virtual systems in place such as E-mail, Transaction Processing Systems, and Management Information Systems that exist and are in use in the Judiciary. The paper discusses the judiciary structure and presents a case study of one of court stations that is targeted to be paperless by the end of year 2013. The technology level of the Judiciary is also discussed as well as disaster preparedness and security concerns. The technology level covers types of common and active devices in use. These include switching technology, routing technology and even communications technology and adoption of IP telephony system. The necessary legislations that will facilitate full implementation of the E- justice is also discussed in this paper as well as concerns of integration with other existing and relevant systems that are common across the government of Kenya. The security threats, posed by data and online systems is also looked at in this paper and measures and reality checks elaborated. Comparative notes are availed in this paper so as to help in understanding reasons for high-end security measures that are implemented. In conclusion, this paper brings to attention certain drawbacks that are associated with the deliberate steps that judiciary is undertaking in ICT.