Small claims court solved over 50, 000 cases in four years, judiciary says

Over 50,000 cases out of 61,269 filed at small claims courts since 2021 have been resolved since, judiciary says.

This figures were publicized in a media engagement communique by spokesperson Paul Ndemo.

In his statement, Ndemo says Judiciary needs more funding to hire staff for efficiency since the small claims court has solved cases valued at Sh9.2 billion in the last four years.

“We established the small claims court in April 2021 to handle commercial disputes with a value of up to Ksh. 1,000,000. The court has experienced significant growth in caseload from 1,023 in the first year to 61,269 currently. The court is served by Magistrates who also double up as small claims court Adjudicators,” Ndemo’s statement reads in part.

“The court plays an integral role within the micro and macro-economic space having resolved a total of 50,666 cases with a cumulative case value of Kshs 9,246,658,146 since inception. We continue to engage Parliament for funding to enable us recruit adjudicators for the court and we are positive that our request will be considered favorably,”.

Small claims court was set up to handle disputes valued below a million.

The Judiciary has also explained to members of the public the importance of using alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in their quest.

This, according to judiciary, can easily be achieved when warrying parties opt for Court Annexed Mediation (CAM) and has three benefits.

“Why CAM: It minimizes the time and costs associated with litigation, preserves relationships between disputants through amicable solutions [and] produces higher-quality outcomes,” Ndemo says.

Since its inception in 2016, Ndemo says the value of matters resolved through CAM Sh103.7 billion.

“In the last financial year, 6,573 cases representing a case value of Ksh. 83.78 billion were referred to mediation. 5,932 cases were successfully resolved releasing Ksh. 35.7 billion back to the economy,”

Alternative dispute resolution deals with many disputes that arise from domestic and commercial contractual disputes, neighbour and boundary tiffs, title deed, planning, developer/purchaser disputes among others.

It is a service that many Kenyans, however, are not aware about despite having been entrenched in our Constitution.

In other countries that have embraced ADR long ago like South Africa, it has helped reduce backlog land cases in their courts according to Indrani Govender, an accredited mediator with the African Centre for Dispute Settlement (ACDS).