CRJ Mokaya meets Judiciary’s management team
Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Hon Winfridah Mokaya today met with the Judiciary Management Team which comprises the Registrars of various courts as well as Directors and heads of administrative units. The meeting followed days of separate consultative meetings between the Chief Registrar and individual members of the Judiciary’s Management Team to cultivate better understanding of their respective mandates.
In her first joint engagement with the Management since assuming office, the Chief Registrar was taken through the progress of implementation of the Social Transformation through Access to Justice (STAJ) blueprint, paying special attention to signature programmes such as the Small Claims Court, Alternative Justice Systems, Mediation, SGBV courts, Child Justice and innovations that address the needs of traditionally marginalized and vulnerable persons.
The Chief Registrar was also apprised on the status of absorption of the Judiciary’s budget and the rollout of automation of the Judiciary’s client-facing and internal administrative processes. Additionally, the Management Team held deliberations on improving service delivery and on the challenges and needs of the various courts and administrative functions, including funding, staffing, office space and ICT equipment.
The Chief Registrar also received an update on various partnerships and collaborations with external partners who are supporting the Judiciary’s mandate. Honorable Mokaya said that while she understood the weight that fell on her shoulders in her new role as the Chief Registrar, she was comforted to enjoy the support of the exceptional team of incredibly talented and dedicated Registrars, Directors and Heads of Units with whom she had worked in her previous role as Registrar at the JSC. She noted that while the Chief Justice’s role is to set forward in the Vision of the Judiciary – as espoused in the STAJ Blueprint – it is the CRJ’s role to translate that vision into actionable plans.
“While the Chief Justice provides strategic direction, the Office of the Chief Registrar plays a pivotal role as a supportive and facilitative entity. It acts as the operational engine, translating the vision into actionable plans and initiatives while ensuring that the Judiciary’s objectives are effectively executed and that justice is delivered efficiently and equitably,” she said.
Referring to “The Road Ahead: A Calling to Deliver” which is her step-by-step plan outlining how she will lead the Judiciary’s administration to support the delivery of the STAJ vision, she highlighted the five strategically linked flagships which will be rolled out in the first 100 days, one year and five years.
These flagships encompass multi-door approaches to social transformation under a people-centred justice model; strategic budgeting and the Judiciary Fund; better resource and asset management; more coherent policy to results implementation and greater institutional accountability.
The CRJ challenged the Management Team to re-evaluate their work methods and delivery frameworks and reflect constantly on areas of improvement, all the while keeping the core mandate of delivering justice at the forefront. This would be particularly important since the Judiciary is operating within constraints due to inadequate budget allocations, yet this should not hinder the institution’s ability to prioritize effectively.
Towards this end, the Chief Registrar invited the Management Team to scrutinize the Judiciary’s expenditure to ensure prudence, efficiency and effectiveness and to ensure the Judiciary’s budgetary priorities are aligned with the its long-term vision.
The CRJ also stated that the Judiciary will need to re-engineer its work methods. “We need to better leverage on ICT, improve our budget planning, strengthen resource and asset management and put in place Judiciary-wide HR and ICT master plans. We also need to re-imagine our policy – planning – budgeting-implementation – results cycle.
” While calling for better planning and budgeting, Honorable Mokaya reiterated her call for the Judiciary to engage stakeholders to support the funding of justice as an equal public good to security and shift its methodology from aggregate percentages to more modern and innovative methods.
The CRJ tasked Management Team to ensure the administration better supports justice delivery through: a) Re-engineering justice and service delivery processes and work methods towards a new, integrated process and institutional model while leveraging technology b) Enhancing budget planning and overall public financial management across the Judiciary c) Strengthening resource and asset management with focus on Judiciary-wide HR, infrastructure and ICT master planning d) Integration of policy to results cycle – policy, planning, budgeting, implementation, results – from STAJ to M&E of results for Kenyans e) Strengthening the culture of transparency, accountability & responsibility for performance and results across the Judiciary.
