Magistrates from both Madiany and Bondo Law Courts have resorted to initiating local arrangement with court orderlies and police escorting inmates so that the security officers remain within court premises until evening as they deliver judgments.
The Magistrates are said to have adopted the strategy to retain security personnel to secure the courts besides their designated duties of escorting inmates because the two courts lack specially assigned police officers to offer security during court proceedings.
In June this year Principal Magistrate, Monica Kivuti, was shot dead by a police officer, while on duty at Makadara Law Courts, leading to calls by both the Judiciary and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), for the need to enhance security in the Kenyan courts.
Speaking during a Court Users Committee meeting, Bondo Senior Principal Magistrate, John Nandi, said that he has been forced to postpone judgments as a precautionary measure on his security, whenever he finds himself without court orderlies.
‘In the a
ftermath of Magistrate Kivuti’s shooting, the area Sub-county security team led by Bondo Deputy County Commissioner, provided designated police officers to man Bondo Court, however, they reported only for a week,’ Principal Magistrate Nandi lamented.
The situation at Madiany Law Court in the neigbouring Rarieda Sub-county mirrors that of Bondo Law Court with the court having to make special arrangements with the Officer Commanding, Aram Police Station, to avail officers at Madiany Court during delivery of judgments.
‘In Madiany, we don’t have designated officers and we rely on those who escort inmates to provide security during proceedings and when they take the prisoners back to Siaya before sessions end, we are forced to make arrangements to get officers from Aram Police Station who sometimes are not readily available,’ said John Akuta, the Executive Officer, Madiany Law Court.
‘The need to have police officers present within the courts, has made the in-mates from Siaya GK prison to be brought into the c
ourts during morning hours and their matters heard last, to keep the police officers around. I have to hold the in-mates around so that I can have advantage of security of the escorting officers, because I don’t have court orderlies here,’ Nandi disclosed.
The holding of the inmates from the two courts who get to arrive at the Siaya GK prison past 6pm has also affected operations at the prison, with wardens describing it as a security risk which exposes the institution to the risk of prison breaks.
Siaya GK Prison Warden, Jacob Olombe pointed out that the prison has stipulated timelines of when the prison doors should not be open after the roll call has been done and any action to open the doors for the late comers from Bondo and Rarieda courts after 6 pm is exposing them to prison break.
The two courts are, therefore, calling upon the Siaya County Police Commandant to designate police officers to man the courts, as this will not only improve service delivery to the people but also avert any security risks
by remand prisoners.
Source: Kenya News Agency