The high number of succession cases causes the backlog in courts in the North Rift region.

Justice Charles Yano of Environment and Lands court in Eldoret said that judges and magistrates have been facing many challenges on land succession due to shortage of judicial staff. 

Speaking during the marking of Alternative Justice System (AJS) Justice Yano regretted that many families were wallowing in poverty due to bitter succession battles that have denied them access to their departed parent’s wealth worth billions of shillings.

He urged the affected families to embrace out-of-court dispute resolutions to help expedite their succession matter instead of taking the court route, which might take decades to resolve the family dispute.

The Judge said the ongoing mediations handled by the elderly people, including women and some professionals, have achieved a lot and that Kenyans should give them support.

“This is the way to go, we have seen a difference since the mediation team was formed and I humbly want to appeal to families involved to embrace the alternative justice system and court annexation mediation on matters related to succession cases instead of a court process which might take decades to solve their disputes,” Yano said.

The judge expressed concern over increased cases of family rows that have found their way in courts over the distribution of vast estates that were left behind by their departed parents and guardians.

“We have heard some people coming up with different arguments, saying the mediation team are doing nothing, but I can assure that the team is a hundred per cent right, believe it or not,” he added.

Yano observed that had such families taken the out-of-court resolution route, the matters would have taken short time to resolve.

“Just give this team time to work, for as judiciary, we are forging AJS and court annexation mediation which we believe is the best way to help in reducing the backlog of cases in our courts,” he said.

However the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) North Rift Chapter dismissed claims from their critics that they were against the alternative justice system so as to make more money on matters related to succession cases.

Led by the North Rift LSK chairman Oscah Oduor said they were in the forefront in championing alternative court annexation with the aim of restoring relationships in the family involved in succession disputes.

“We are planning to roll out a major awareness campaign targeting elders, religious leaders and other stakeholders to inform the society to embrace AJS as the solution to succession matter that is still rampant in this region, nothing is going to stop men and women who have volunteer to help the court, we are behind them,” Oduor stated.

The chairman of Mediation in Uasin Gishu County lawyer Daniel Tariko also asked feuding families not to fear the mediation process, which he described as the best route to solve their long-standing succession disputes.

“The feuding families should know that once they agree during mediation on how to share whatever was left behind by their parents, the report will be automatically adopted and signed through the court of law to avoid further inconvenience,” said Tariko.