Nairobi — Chief Justice Martha Koome has called for deeper regional collaboration to strengthen the multi-door approach to justice across East Africa and address challenges affecting the region’s justice system.
Speaking during the official opening of the 22nd East Africa Magistrates and Judges Association (EAMJA) Annual Conference–held under the theme “Justice Beyond Brick and Mortar: Unlocking Multi-Door Pathways for People-Centred Justice in East Africa”–the Chief Justice noted that although each East African country is taking its own path toward people-centred justice, the challenges and opportunities remain strikingly similar.
“Legislative challenges, resource constraints, community engagement gaps, capacity limitations, and the need for sustainable investment in technology and training affect us all. It is precisely for this reason that regional collaboration remains critical and indispensable. EAMJA provides us a rare and valuable space for reflection, peer learning, and collective problem-solving,” CJ Koome said.
She called for a shared regional commitment to refine and strengthen multi-door justice approaches, including supporting jurisdictions whose Alternative Justice Systems (AJS), mediation frameworks, and specialised court systems are still at early stages of development.
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This, she emphasised, would ensure countries advance together in laying firm foundations for people-centred justice, harmonising regional standards, promoting joint training for judicial officers, mediators, and AJS practitioners, and deepening inter-country partnerships.
Justice Koome noted that this year’s theme speaks directly to a critical moment for the region, where the legitimacy of East Africa’s justice systems increasingly depends on their ability to serve people where they are, in ways they understand, and through mechanisms that respond to their lived realities.
“For many of our people, the formal court system remains slow, costly, distant, or intimidating. Increasing caseloads strain our institutions, and our citizens still feel disconnected from justice systems designed to serve them,” she observed.
The Chief Justice said that, given the justice needs of citizens, people-centred justice has emerged not merely as an aspiration but as a necessity.
It requires shifting the lens from viewing the Judiciary as the sole avenue for dispute resolution to expanding access to justice through multiple pathways tailored to diverse community needs.
“The movement toward people-centred justice challenges us to rethink not only how we deliver justice, but where, with whom, and through what means. It requires us to see justice not as a place where people go, but as a public good that must be available in community spaces, through dialogue, and through innovative mechanisms that respect culture, dignity, and agency,” she said.
CJ Koome highlighted that Alternative Justice Systems (AJS), court-annexed mediation, and specialized courts are already transforming the justice experience for millions across the region.
These platforms, she added, enhance access to justice, restore relationships, empower communities, and build trust in the Judiciary as a partner in addressing daily challenges.
“The shift toward people-centred justice demands that we adopt this broader identity with courage and imagination. It challenges us to re-design processes so that our justice systems bend towards the realities of ordinary lives, rather than requiring ordinary lives to bend towards the rigidities of our systems,” she added.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki who graced the event called for judicial systems that function not as barriers, but as open doorways through which fairness, dignity, and economic opportunity can flow to every corner of our region.
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He noted that across East Africa, many people still experience formal courts as distant, slow, costly, or intimidating spaces adding that for millions, especially women, youth, small entrepreneurs, and rural communities, the justice system appears more like a fortress than a support structure.
The Deputy President however cautioned that while expanding these alternative pathways, the courts must uphold safeguards to ensure that expediency never substitutes for fairness.
“Gender-sensitive guidelines, human rights protections, appellate pathways, and constitutional guardrails must form the backbone of all multi-door justice initiatives.”
He assured that Kenya stands ready to work hand-in-hand with all Judiciaries across the region to harness and share experiences in order to build judicial systems that listen to citizens, respect their dignity, and deliver justice fairly and expeditiously.
