Close 57 percent of Kenyans trust court of law, a report by Afrobarometer has revealed.
A survey released by the organisation on September 12, further revealed that more 35 percent of Kenyans think judges and magistrates are involved in corruption.
According to Afrobarometer Co national investigator and associate director, Paul Kamau, said Kenyans embrace out of court settlements in seeking justice compared to courts of law and tribunals.
“Trust in courts of law by Kenyans tend to reduce with increase in levels of education”, the report said.
Close to nine in 10 Kenyans acknowledged satisfaction with justice outcomes given the various avenues they used to seek justice and less than one in 10 Kenyans have had contact with government courts in the past two years.
Afrobarometer survey was conducted between 28 August and 26 September 2019 by the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Nairobi. Nationally representative sample of adult citizens.
In their report, the organization says there is a general preference to alternative sources of justice compared to the courts of law by Kenyans
“Interestingly, more rural residents trust the courts of law much more compared to their urban counterparts. Furthermore, education exhibits an inverse relationship with trust in courts of law with more educated citizens tending to trust the courts of law much less”, the report says.
Overwhelming majority of Kenyans were satisfied with the justice outcomes from the avenues they had sought justice from.
The report further adds that main challenges encountered by citizens in government courts include among others inability to meet costs and fees, inability to be listened to by the judge or magistrate, not being listened to, complexity of courts processes and procedures, inability to obtain legal counsel or advice and long queues in handling cases.
Afrobarometer is Pan-African, non-partisan, non-profit research network that measures citizen attitudes on democracy and governance, the economy, civil society, and other topics.
It started in 12 African countries in 1999. Round 8 surveys in 2019/2020 are planned in at least 35 countries.
Its goal is to give the public a voice in policymaking by providing high-quality public opinion data to policymakers, policy advocates, civil society organizations, academics, news media, donors and investors, and ordinary Africans.
