The Judiciary has launched an Alternative Justice Systems (AJS) County Action Plan and AJS Suite to expand access to justice by providing residents with multiple avenues for resolving disputes outside the formal courts.

The initiative will enable justice seekers to pursue suitable disputes through trained elders, religious leaders, market-based AJS mechanisms, court-annexed AJS, and the formal courts under a multi-door justice system.

In a speech read on her behalf by the Chairperson of the National Steering Committee on Alternative Justice Systems, Justice Prof. Joel Ngugi, Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu said AJS recognizes that justice is not confined to courtrooms and that communities have for generations resolved disputes through dialogue, reconciliation, consensus-building and restoration of relationships.

Justice Mwilu said AJS complements the formal courts by resolving appropriate disputes through restorative approaches that preserve relationships, strengthen communities, and prevent cyclic conflicts, while courts remain responsible for safeguarding constitutional rights and determining matters requiring judicial adjudication.

She said the approach was particularly important to Kericho, where disputes involving land boundaries, succession, grazing rights, water resources, labour relations, contracts, family matters, and shared community resources affect the county’s agricultural economy and the livelihoods of residents.

The Deputy Chief Justice said prolonged disputes could delay investment, disrupt harvesting, divide families, weaken trust among neighbours and, in some cases, escalate into violence, while early intervention could prevent disagreements from developing into major conflicts.

She said empowering elders, community leaders, religious leaders, women leaders, and youth representatives to facilitate dialogue would help promote peace, strengthen social cohesion, and support economic development.

Justice Mwilu said the County Action Plan would provide a framework for the Judiciary, county government, and other justice stakeholders to identify local justice needs, strengthen referral pathways, build institutional capacity, and ensure that AJS mechanisms uphold equality, inclusion, and the protection of vulnerable persons.

She added that the success of the plan should be measured by its impact on the lives of residents, including reconciled families, restored trust among neighbours, productive use of disputed land, stronger protection of vulnerable groups, and increased public confidence in the justice system.

Justice Ngugi who represented the Deputy chief justice in the function said the Kericho AJS model provides justice seekers with several pathways through trained elders, religious leaders, market-based AJS mechanisms, court-annexed AJS and the formal courts, adding that elders, who are the main AJS practitioners, have been trained to identify cases they can handle and those that must be referred to the police or courts.

Meanwhile, Kericho County Governor, Dr. Eric Mutai, said the county had allocated and fully furnished the AJS Suite as a central centre for mediation and community-based dispute resolution and would establish similar spaces in modern markets and major trading centres, including Litein, Kapsoit, Londiani, Sigowet and Sondu.

Kericho County Governor, Dr. Eric Mutai, stressed that Alternative Justice Systems (AJS) must not become a license for lawlessness, saying that while elders play a central role in resolving suitable community disputes, the mechanisms must not be used to conceal criminal conduct, shield offenders or deny victims justice, as serious offences must be reported to the police and handled by the courts.

Dr. Mutai assured that his administration had also allocated 1.5 acres of land at Chelimo for the construction of a modern court complex, while Deputy County Commissioner, Monicah Muli, lauded the initiative saying the AJS would help address grassroots disputes in an accessible and affordable manner and called for public awareness on the available justice pathways.

The launch was also attended by Deputy Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, Paul Ndemo, High Court judges Teresa Odera and Chelangat Mutai, judicial officers, members of the Court Users Committee, elders, religious leaders, AJS practitioners and other stakeholders.

By Kibe Mburu and Gilbert Bett