State lobbies EU support for reforms in legal sector 

Kenya is pushing for an extension of financial support from the European Union (EU) to implement a raft of re-forms in the justice sector under the National Legal Aid Service (NLAS).

In a bid to improve the delivery of justice services and the use of alterna-tives to imprisonment in the country, the EU has been funding NLAS through the Programme for Legal Empower-ment and Aid Delivery (PLEAD) since 2014.

According to the EU ambassador to Kenya, Henriette Geiger, Kenya got the lion's share of financial support in the region to fund reforms in the jus-tice sector.

"When we embarked on the justice sector reforms process in Kenya, the European Union invested Sh290 mil-lion. This is the largest investment of the EU in justice sector reform in Sub-saharan Africa," Geiger said.

The envoy hailed the government for the progress made in the sector adding that NLAS was a crucial element in en-suring that justice is being served to all the people of the country in equal measure.

"That is why our support was so strong to try to bring access to justice to every citizen no matter where they live, how old, how young, which gender, which social economic status," Ambas-sador Geiger said during the flagging off of 12 vehicles that EU procured to assist NLAS to reach hardship counties.

Possible extension Subtly hinting at a possible exten-sion, Geiger said that Kenya has em-barked on a long journey and the EU is standing side by side in the process where Plead will now have anew face.

"I am sure we can continue to ac-company the process of your devolu-tion of justice into all the 47 counties. The vehicles may not be enough but we have been promised that new offices will be opened," she said.

Even as the government seeks an extension of the programme, Ambas-sador Geiger called for political will noting that it is the first step in the rec-ognition of rights of the citizens to ac-cess justice.

"If you want to thank the EU taxpayer you can do so by giving maximum use to these vehicles to reach many indi-gents who would never have dreamt of getting legal aid in this country," she added.

On his part Attorney General Justin Muturi thanked the EU for their im-measurable support to the govern-ment and Kenyans in facilitating the strengthening of the rule of law, in-creasing access to justice and ensuring the respect of human rights.