The Kenyan judiciary has for the first time decentralized the operations of the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) out of Nairobi to seven regions in Kenya. This means all political disputes will no longer be filed in Nairobi but in various courts across the country.
The President of the Supreme Court of Kenya Justice Martha Koome in her statement to the country has said that with the decentralization of the PPDT to other regions outside Nairobi, Kenyans can now access justice with respect to political disputes without having to travel long distances to access justice. This ensures that access to justice with respect to this category of disputes will be cost-effective, expeditious and convenient, which is particularly crucial with respect to political disputes arising out of political parties’ primaries which arise from around the country.
President Koome, has noted that during previous electoral cycles like 2013 and 2017 electoral cycles, all disputes arising political parties’ primaries were filed in Nairobi, causing challenges in terms of accessibility of justice given the distance some litigants had to travel to Nairobi to access the Tribunal.
The judiciary has also leveraged on technology for efficiency of the delivery of justice by the PPDT by providing an e-filling system, as an enabler for efficient service delivery which has already been activated for those who will be filling cases, with contact persons already designated being the Court Administrators of each of the seven identified court stations and ICT officers to be on stand-by.
The seven regions that have the privilege are:
- Nairobi region in Milimani Law Courts
- Meru region in Meru Law Courts
- Mombasa region in Mombasa Law Courts
- Kisumu region in Kisumu Law Courts
- Kakamega region in Kakamega Law Courts
- Nyeri region in Nyeri Law Courts
- Eldoret region in Eldoret Law Courts.
Koome has assured Kenyans that the PPDT and the Courts are ready and well-prepared to handle any disputes arising from the political parties’ primaries and other electoral disputes including working beyond normal working hours and on weekends to meet the ends of justice, fairly, expeditiously, and in a cost-effective manner.