KENYA

It's justice truly delayed

Elsewhere, we carry the moving story of little Joseph Irungu, who was yesterday handed over to his real parents in a Nakuru court after having lived with another couple for half his lifetime. We will not here dwell on the circumstances under which a little child found himself in such a predicament. Our concern is with the glacial pace of the justice system that allowed the unique “parentage” case to drag on for so long. Joseph was among 21 children rescued by police from alleged abductors in Kapsabet Town in March, 2001. A couple said they recognised their lost son from a newspaper photograph and were allowed to claim him from a children's home. The following year, they were granted legal custody. But, by then, another couple had already come forward to claim the same boy. The protracted legal battle that followed was brought to a close only on Tuesday when Mr Justice Daniel Musingu ordered that the boy be returned to the second couple whom the court had found to be the biological parents. The first parents complied and dutifully brought the boy to the courtroom yesterday to hand him over in the presence of the judge. It was a truly sombre and moving moment. One couple was distraught and bitter at losing the boy they have brought up in love and kindness from infancy. Note that they were never at any time accused of abduction or child theft. The other couple was overjoyed at getting back the child they once thought was lost forever. Both couples had plenty of tears to shed.

Would it have been less painful, less traumatic — for both the boy and the two sets of parents — if the wheels of justice had ground just a little bit faster? Undoubtedly. A lot has been said about judicial reform. We have witnessed the radical surgery that sent home half the Judiciary for alleged corruption. We have witnessed some attempts to modernise procedures and bring the courts up to speed on matters such the use of computers and recording devices. But, as goes the adage, justice delayed is justice denied. And that rings like a very loud alarm in the case of little Joseph. If the courts are clogged such that cases must invariably take aeons to resolve, then there must be a system where some cases must be selected for fast-tracking through the legal process.
But the ultimate solution would be a system where all cases are dealt with expeditiously.

25 November 2004
 

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