Chief Justice Martha Koome has urged Kenyans especially politicians to embrace Alternative Dispute Resolution to resolve political disputes before going to court.
Koome was speaking at the Supreme Court of Kenya @ 12 conference which was also graced by President William Ruto and DP Kithure Kindiki.
Koome asked political leaders to solve political matters through other alternative dispute mechanisms like the ADR before seeking courts intervention.
She further said that it was important that institutions do exhaust the existing dispute resolution mechanisms to solve disputes and only turn to court as last resort.
“So let us embrace the provisions of 159 and do ADR or what is called court mediation or alternative dispute resolution to resolve the dispute that visit us especially politically,” she said.
Koome said that the Supreme Court has affirmed its commitment to rule of law,it’s impossible to appreciate that the Supreme Court has a political dimension taking it consideration that the Supreme Court handles matters touching on political leaders including governors and presidential petitions,this has exposed the court to political vilification over the three political circles.
She also reflected on the 2007 elections saying when she looks back to what happened in 2007 when we were visited by post election violence,when I look for what happened in 2017 and for 2022 and the creation of Nusu mkate and now the broad based government
“I wondered what if we sat down under the provisions of article 159 to reason together and solve the dispute before we went into fighting each other we would have been very far as a country,” Koome said
