State can foot legal bills for robbery with violence suspects , says CJ Koome

In a circular to courts, CJ Koome said Article 50(2)(h) of the Constitution requires that that an accused person is provided with an advocate at the expense of the state if substantial injustice would be occasioned to the accused due to lack of legal representation.

However, the practice has been that with regard to capital offences, only those charged with murder tend to receive free representation. 

The CJ, who is also the President of the Supreme Court, directed Judiciary chief registrar Anne Amadi to engage the solicitor general and concerned agencies to ensure that the National Legal Aid Services (NLAS) is supported with implementing the directive. 

Justice Koome also directed Mr Kennedy Bidali, the Judiciary Ombudsperson, to liaise with the registrars of all courts to come up with a monthly report on implementation of the directive across the country. 

“Bidali…is hereby appointed to work with Registrars of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High court and Magistrate courts assisted by the Directorate of planning and Organisation Performance (DPOP) to prepare and present, to my office, monthly status reports of implementation of this circular and a formula for implementation to be considered and scaled to all courts across the country,” the CJ said. 

Bidali was appointed on September 2011 as the first Judiciary Ombudsperson.

The CJ said robbery with violence under section 296(2) of the Penal code is a capital offence and if convicted, an accused is sentenced to death. 

“It is imperative that persons charged with the said offence equally have legal representation,” she said.

The National Legal Aid Service (NLAS) has been training capital offenders who cannot afford a lawyer on self-representation.