| dc.description.abstract | In the world all over every person has the right to a fair trial and that has been the subject of
interpretation and adjudication than most of the other rights. The Judiciary in any democratic
state is the body mandated to interpret the law and ensure every due benefit from the process.
The judiciary is required to deliver justice to all irrespective of status without delay. The
right to speedy trial and delivery of justice is one of the major facets of the general right to
fair hearing, however today case backlog is one of the greatest challenges facing judiciary
world all over. In Kenya Judiciary, case backlog and delays in delivery of justice has been
one of the main indictments against the judiciary because cases keep on piling up between
the time of filing and the time of determination of the cases. The purpose of the study was
to investigate the factors influencing management of case backlog in judiciary in Kenya: a
case of courts within Meru and Tharaka Nithi Counties. The objectives of the study were to
establish how availability of Judicial staff influence management of case backlog in
Judiciary in Kenya, to establish how use of ICT influences management of case backlog in
Judiciary in Kenya, to determine how availability of physical infrastructure influences
management of case backlog in Judiciary in Kenya: to establish how judicial organizational
structure influences management of case backlog in Judiciary in Kenya and to establish how
court rules and procedures influences management of case backlog in Kenya. The study
adopted descriptive design. The target population was all judicial officers and staff of courts
within Meru and Tharaka Nithi Counties. The target population for this study was 200
respondents from seven courts within the two counties. The sample size was 60 respondents
which was 30% of the target population and therefore representative sample size. The study
adopted stratified simple random sampling. The questionnaires were used to collect the data
from the respondents. Data collected was checked, edited and coded and analyzed using
statistical tool (SSP) and presented using tables, frequencies, and percentages. The findings
of this study showed that the management of case backlog in the Judiciary in Kenya is
affected by a number of elements varying from, availability of Judicial staff, use of ICT,
availability of physical infrastructure, judicial organizational structure, court’s rules and
procedures and many others, including manual management of court records. The study
therefore arrived at the following conclusions, that the availability of Judicial staff
contributed to management of case backlog in Judiciary in Kenya, the use of ICT contributed
to reduction on case backlog in the Judiciary in Kenya, however, to have efficiency and
effectiveness in managing the backlog use of ICT has to be embraced. Availability of
physical infrastructure contributed to management of case backlog in Judiciary in Kenya,
however due to inadequate funding the physical infrastructures are inadequate, Judicial
organizational structure contributed to management of case backlog, however, there is need
to re-engineer organizational structure and establish clear governance to effectively manage
backlog, court rules and procedures contributed to the management of case backlog in the
judiciary in Kenya and that apart from the above mentioned factors other factors such as
manual management of court records and others which were not under study influences
management of case backlog in the Judiciary in Kenya. The study recommended that the
Judicial Service Commission needs to address the issue of shortage of Judicial Officers and
other staff by ensuring adequate staff is employed in the Judiciary. The Judiciary should
ensure continuous learning and training of judicial officers and other staff in the Judiciary.
The Judicial Service Commission should ensure that each staff has an appointment letter
specifying terms of employment. | en_US |
