Courts in Kenya will now use electronic messaging applications to ensure the wheels of justice continue turning during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Chief Justice David Maraga, all Kenyan courts will now be allowed to use technology to run their operations during the covid-19 crisis as opposed to the ordinary form where people were supposed to attend court proceedings physically.
“Service of documents and court process: During this period, parties are directed, whenever possible and unless otherwise directed by the court, to serve court documents and processes through electronic mail services and mobile-enabled messaging applications as provided for under Order 5 Rules 22B and 22C of the Civil Procedure Rules,” said CJ Maraga.
This means courts will now use mobile messaging applications like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram or even Gmail to serve orders with a blue tick showing that the recipient has seen and read the message.
Earlier forms included a physical appearance in court and signing of papers or use of newspapers to present before the court a practice that was borrowed from colonial masters.
The new directive will require court documents to have names of lawyers and litigants of which one will be required to present the court papers before a registry where a clerk will stamp each page.
The litigant will then be required to scan all the stamped pages and send them to the courts and other parties concerned through email.
Chief Justice Maraga argues that the court proceedings will continue without having oral hearings but through written documents with a limited number of pages, a specified font, and spacing. The filed documents should also be submitted in Microsoft word format.
“Where the court has directed that the matter shall be canvassed through written submissions, the parties, where represented and in appropriate cases, unrepresented parties, shall furnish the court and the opposite parties or their advocates on record with copies of the submissions in an electronic format indicating the case number and the court before which the matter is.”
“The submissions shall be in Microsoft Word, with a minimum font size used of 12 and 1.5 spacing. The electronic documents shall be sent to the email address of the court before which the matter is.”
After a judgment is passed by the court, the party on the winning side will be required to wait for at least two weeks before executing the orders.
The CJ urged warring parties to consider settling their issues without court involvement and send the writing in court indicating a consensual agreement between all involved parties.
However, the move is likely to have some negative implications on the court proceedings as some may deliberately ignore the messages from the court.
“Where parties have agreed on consent, the consent shall be communicated by email and recorded as an order of the court. It shall not be necessary that all the parties sign consent as long as they confirm in writing or by email their concurrence to the terms thereof.
“Confirmation of concurrence shall be emailed to the court and the court shall print and file it together with the consent in the case file.”
The new directive will run for 30 days with the CJ saying the time might be extended in the Coronavirus crisis continues.