Justice Wakiaga urges alternative dispute resolution practitioners to respect their mandate, clarify cases eligible for mediation and formalise out-of-court agreements to ease pressure on courts.
Alternative Justice System (AJS) practitioners have been urged to prioritise fairness and justice in community-based dispute resolution rather than assume the role of judges and impose judgments on parties.
Speaking during the official launch of AJS Week, Justice Wakiaga cautioned practitioners against replicating the formal court system in communities, emphasising that their primary responsibility is to facilitate fair and mutually acceptable outcomes.
“Usiende huko nje na kuwa judges wadogo wa huko nje. Just make sure there’s justice,” the judge told AJS members, urging them to focus on achieving justice while respecting the limits of their mandate. The remarks underscored the growing role of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in improving access to justice and reducing the burden on conventional courts.
Justice Wakiaga also emphasised the need for practitioners to understand which disputes can appropriately be handled through AJS, noting that the system is not a substitute for court proceedings in every case.
Members were informed that matters involving children and robbery with violence cases would be excluded from the programme, highlighting the importance of directing disputes to the appropriate legal and justice mechanisms. The guidance is intended to ensure that AJS practitioners operate within clearly defined boundaries while helping communities resolve suitable disputes without necessarily resorting to lengthy court proceedings.
The judge also highlighted challenges arising when parties resolve disputes outside court but later disagree over the terms or seek formal recognition of their agreements.
Practitioners were encouraged to guide parties towards presenting agreements reached through alternative dispute resolution for registration in court, where applicable, to secure formal recognition and clarify their obligations. Training sessions planned during AJS Week are expected to equip practitioners with the knowledge and skills required to handle such situations and strengthen coordination between community-based dispute resolution mechanisms and the formal justice system.
Proper documentation and formal recognition of agreements can help minimise future disagreements while giving parties greater clarity on the terms they have accepted. The emphasis on training and clear procedures also reflects efforts to ensure that alternative dispute resolution processes remain fair, accountable and consistent with the law.
Discussions during the launch also focused on the workload at Makadara Law Courts, where it was noted that approximately 50 per cent of the workload could potentially be addressed through alternative mechanisms at the community level.
The approach could ease pressure on the courts by allowing disputes suitable for community-based resolution to be settled outside conventional court proceedings. This would enable judicial officers to dedicate more time and resources to cases requiring formal adjudication, while giving parties an additional avenue for resolving disputes. However, the approach depends on practitioners correctly identifying eligible cases and ensuring that matters requiring court intervention are referred through the appropriate channels.
The programme will also seek to register trained AJS practitioners who have completed the requisite training but are not yet actively engaged in the system.
The initiative is expected to establish a clearer record of available practitioners and strengthen the pool of personnel supporting alternative dispute resolution at the community level. Increasing the number of trained and registered practitioners could help expand access to community-based justice services and improve the handling of disputes that fall within the AJS framework.
As AJS Week continues, the focus remains on strengthening practitioners’ capacity, clarifying the scope of cases they can handle and improving collaboration between communities and the judiciary.
Justice Wakiaga’s message was that AJS practitioners should not seek to become “small judges” outside the courtroom, but should instead facilitate fair resolutions, respect the limits of their authority and help ensure that justice is accessible to all.
