Wamunyu courts turn to Kamba elders to ease minor case backlog

Wamunyu Law Courts turns to Kamba elders to resolve minor disputes and ease case backlogs. [Courtesy]

Wamunyu Law Courts in Machakos County has partnered with the Kamba elders to reduce the backlog of minor cases that make up to 45 per cent of cases handled by the courts.

Wamunyu Law Courts, Head of Station, Senior Principal Magistrate Pascal Nabwana, initiated the partnership during this week's courts’ Alternative Justice System (AJS) service week that advocates for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

According to Nabwana, most of the minor cases handled at Wamunyu Law Courts revolve around land boundary disputes that can be resolved through the Elders.

According to locals, witchcraft forms part of the disputes that face the community, with a controversial dispute-handling mechanism that involves disappearing one’s genitals.

Nabwana said Wamunyu Law Courts seeks intervention of Kamba Elders to resolve minor disputes to reduce backlog through the launch of AJS.

The Magistrate said that out of 1000 cases handled by Wamunyu Law Courts, 450 cases are minor cases ranging from assault, use of abusive language and threats, mostly emanating from land boundary disputes.

“For us, we handle about 1000 cases per year and the minor cases form around 450 cases that emanate from land matters and can be handled through AJS. You hear someone assaulted his brother with a machete, abused an elderly woman and all these disputes emanate from land boundary,” said Nabwana.

The Magistrate said that under the Kamba customs, the elders are in charge of clans and families and whenever there is a problem, people seek their intervention.

He said the court will train the elders and link them with courts so that we can monitor what they are doing and how they can assist the court to deal with minor issues while courts handle serious matters,” said Nabwana.

“Most of the minor cases revolve around abuse and assault, and they emanate from land matters, which are privy to the elders. So when they go before these elders, as is the case with the Njuri Ncheke, who are the autonomous group, they can easily solve such disputes,” said Nabwana

He said the Kambas have autonomy, but they handle it at the clan level because they have not been given the prominence and power to deal with cases as much.

“We are trying to empower these elders so they can be functional. The use of elders for AJS has been in play across the country, with Kajiado taking the lead followed by Bomet County, Embu, Kitui and Garissa, as well as Marsabit and Mandera,” said Nabwana.

He said that in the northern region, the ADR is strong because the elders were already solving these cases since way back and the court just tapped into them.

According to locals, the AJS will help reduce the litigation cost given the long distance from the village to Wamunyu Law Courts.

While addressing the locals, Nabwana said the court is seeking persons with integrity and wisdom to determine disputes in an unbiased way.

“The court does not discriminate whether the elder is a woman or man provided they uphold integrity and have wisdom to determine disputes in the community in an unbiased manner,” said Nabwana.

Witchcraft is among the issues that the locals raised as disputes that have proved difficult to resolve in the community, as it sometimes involves close relatives, including brothers.

According to Moses Kabebo, elders should be trained on how to solve the disputes without being biased.