The stakeholders responsible for children rights were urged to work together to ensure the children access justice. This was the message during the launch of the annual Child Justice Service Month, November, held at the Kerugoya Children’s’ Court.
The theme of this year is ‘Social Transformation Through Access to Justice’
Justice John Mutugi from Lands and Environment Court, who presided the event on behalf of Kerugoya High Court Presiding Judge Justice Richard Mwongo, said annually in the month of November they prioritize on the hearing and determination on matters dealing with children.
He said children matters should be given enough recognition because of significance role they play in our lives.
Justice Mutugi also said children are the heartbeats of our nation, they represent the future, and their welfare must take priority in our society.
He thanked the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) for ensuring that the children are represented in court freely
He noted the children have rights and it was upon the society to take care of their rights.
The Kerugoya Court chief magistrate Alex Ithuku assured the public that the month of November is customarily for children matters and they will dedicate time for them. He also said as judiciary they will implement vision of social transformation that will ensure children get into the courts with minimum inconvenience if need be.
He also added all magistrates are gazette to work in Children’s’ Court and they will try to finish on about 80 children matters that are currently in the inventory and finalize them.
Loise Mugure Gichuki, Children Officer, said some people have forgotten to highlight children issues yet majority need protection from every person.
She said the government has enacted many laws notably Article 53 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 but everybody should know children rights are human rights.
The representative of LSK Chairperson, Mr. Ngigi, said that, children face our judicial systems because of our broken societal systems. He said that to deal with the broken system there should be quick disposal of the matters, or develop alternative measures of settling the children cases.
He advocated for setting up of the police protection units for children, the county government rescue centers and the society allow children participate in matters that concern them. This was echoed by the representative of Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP)
The sub county education officer, Kennedy Machora, said the Ministry of Education is committed to dealing with cases affecting children by all angles.
Machora urged the judiciary to come up with the law that in case of disputes the court orders that the children remain in the school until the case is determined.