Rapid Results Initiative

JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY KENYA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT HCEB3108: OPERATION MANAGEMENT YOUR NAME Table of Contents 1. 0 Introduction3 2. 0 General background of Milimani law Courts3 3. 0 Area of interest4 4. 0 Statement of the problem5 5.

0 Outcome in 50 Days5 6. 0 Rationality of the RRI10 7. 0 Challenges to Implementation of the RRI10 8. 0 Recommendations11 9.

0 Conclusion12 RAPID RESULTS INITIATIVE 1. 0 Introduction On September 16, 2011 the Chief Justice of Kenya Hon.Charles Mutunga was overwhelmed by the number of cases that were piling at the Milimani Law Courts, located in Nairobi for the past one year and the number of judges available to deal with the cases filed in the division. It came to his notice that every month cases that were determined and dismissed were few owing to the limited number of judges to decide the cases and therefore they continued to pile at an increasing alarm. He therefore summoned the judges assigned at the law courts to find the best solution to reduce the backlog of cases at the law courts.In solidarity, the judges agreed to meet and discuss the best strategy to reduce the backlog of cases and afterwards provide the chief justice with the feedback in 100 days concerning their progress.

The judges agreed to use the rapid results initiative through commercial and admiralty division to reduce the backlog from 7500 to 3500 cases in 100 days. 2. 0 General background of Milimani law Courts The committee as chaired by the Hon. Justice R. Kwach, (retired) on administration of justice appointed by the Chief justice in January 1998 ecommended among other things that the high court in Nairobi be split into four (4) divisions namely, Family division, Criminal division, civil division and commercial division each with its own registry.

Indeed, in February 1998 the commercial division of the high court was established and based at Milimani Commercial courts Nairobi specifically to hear and determine commercial matters classified in the circular dated 18th November 1997 by the Hon. The Chief Justice A.M Cocakar (retired) as:- i. All proceedings in which an injunction sought to restrain the realization of securities whether debentures or charges. ii. All company matters and applications including winding up, excluding cases in which a company is suing or is being sued as an entity.

iii. All Bankruptcy matters. iv. All matters relating to arbitration other than enforcement of awards; excluding any matter relating to land affected by the Land control board.

v. All intellectual property matters i. All claims for the recovery of unsecured debts (but including claims against guarantors) due to bank or other financial institution in which a defense is filed. On the filling of the defense the matter to be automatically transferred to the commercial court.

vii. Such matters are certified by a judge of the commercial court as being suitable for determination in the commercial court having regard to the amount involved; the need for a speedy hearing and the nature of the case.It was felt that in considering the nature of the case the judge could be guided by wording similar to the definition of a commercial action in the English order 72 Rule 1(1), namely “arising out of the ordinary transactions of merchants and traders and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing words, any cause relating to the construction of a mercantile document, the export or import of merchandise, affreightment, insurance, banking mercantile agency and mercantile usage. ” The Hon. The chief Justice E.

Gicheru (retired) through Kenya Gazette dated 19th January 2007 renamed the commercial division “Commercial and Tax Division” of the high court and in addition to commercial matters presently dealt with by the division to hear and determine all tax matters in the republic of Kenya lodged under any law by or against the Kenya Revenue Authority or any other authority or Government Department charge with levying or collection of any tax or public charges except where otherwise provided by any written law. Last year, the Hon.The chief Justice/president Supreme Court of Kenya renamed the division “The commercial and Admiralty” Division of the high Court. 3. 0 Area of interest The commercial and admiralty division which is now located at Milimani Law Courts Nairobi, handles an average of 130 cases filed every month which includes, civil suits, miscellaneous causes/applications, winding up cases and bankruptcy cases. Before October, 2011, the division had three (3) judges to hear and determine cases filed in the division.

This number of judges was inadequate to deal with the volume of cases filed in the division.Currently, the division has seven judges with a backlog of 7500 cases. The rapid Results Initiative (RRI), an approach whereby processes and services are fast tracked to achieve specified goals within 100 days, has been tested and used in many countries. RRI has been applied by ministries and local authorities to achieve certain specific and tangible results within a limited amount of time. The commercial and admiralty division launched its workshop of the RRI team work on the 7th December 2011 with the objective to ascertain the actual number of cases that are:- 1.

Pending 2. Determined 3.Determined but results are not entered in the respective registers (still considered as pending/active) 4. Inactive-where step has not been taken by either party for one year or more-(due for dismissal upon issuance of Notice to show cause) with a view of reducing the backlog of cases in the division. The bankruptcy causes are not captured in this RRI activities because they relate to state of one being insolvent/bankrupt. 4.

0 Statement of the problem Many complaints came from the public at large concerning the delay of hearing for various cases which included criminal cases, commercial disputes, and civil cases among others.Through the judicial service commission the complaints were lodged which came to the attention of the Chief Justice of the republic of Kenya. In this respect the RRI was initiated and adopted to try and find if decisions could be reached for the problem at hand. At the launch of the workshop of the RRI team work, the team set a goal of reducing backlog of cases in the division from 7500 to 3500 cases in 100 days and develops a work plan for that purpose. The RRI team members have so far carried out the activities towards achieving its goal good enough without changes or revising the goal.

. 0 Outcome in 50 Days The one hundred days race to achieve their goal of reducing backlog from 7500 to 3500 cases in the commercial and admiralty division is on, the results so far in the 50 days are reflected in the statistical summary of cases in the tables and diagrams below:- 1ST WEEK RESULTS 7/12/2011 to 13/12/2011 BACKLOGNo. | DETERMINED| BACKLOG REDUCED BYNo. | | Results not Entered No. | Dismissed in court No. | | 7500| 188| 0| 188| NOTE: - Backlog Minus (result not entered plus Dismissed in court) = Backlog reduced by 2ND WEEK RESULTS 14/12/2011 TO 20/12/2011BACKLOGNo.

| DETERMINED| BACKLOG REDUCED BYNo. | | Results not Entered No. | Dismissed in court No. | | 7312| 220| 0| 220| NOTE: - Backlog Minus (result not entered plus Dismissed in court) = Backlog reduced by 3RD WEEK RESULTS 21/12/2011 TO 27/12/2011 BACKLOGNo.

| DETERMINED| BACKLOG REDUCED BYNo. | | Results not Entered No. | Dismissed in court No. | | 7092| 180| 0| 180| NOTE: - Backlog Minus (result not entered plus Dismissed in court) = Backlog reduced by 4TH WEEK RESULTS 28/12/2011 TO 3/01/2012 BACKLOGNo. | DETERMINED| BACKLOG REDUCED BYNo. | Results not Entered No.

| Dismissed in court No. | | 6912| 287| 0| 287| NOTE: - Backlog Minus (result not entered plus Dismissed in court) = Backlog reduced by 5TH WEEK RESULTS 4/01/2012 TO 10/01/2012 BACKLOGNo. | DETERMINED| BACKLOG REDUCED BYNo. | | Results not Entered No.

| Dismissed in court No. | | 6625| 259| 0| 259| NOTE: - Backlog Minus (result not entered plus Dismissed in court) = Backlog reduced by 6TH WEEK RESULTS 11/01/2012 TO 17/01/2012 BACKLOGNo. | DETERMINED| BACKLOG REDUCED BYNo. | | Results not Entered No.

| Dismissed in court No. | 6366| 271| 110| 381| NOTE: - Backlog Minus (result not entered plus Dismissed in court) = Backlog reduced by 7TH WEEK RESULTS 18/01/2012 TO 24/01/2012 BACKLOGNo. | DETERMINED| BACKLOG REDUCED BYNo. | | Results not Entered No. | Dismissed in court No. | | 5985| 639| 300| 939| NOTE: - Backlog Minus (result not entered plus Dismissed in court) = Backlog reduced by 8TH WEEK RESULTS 25/01/2012 TO 31/01/2012 BACKLOGNo.

| DETERMINED| BACKLOG REDUCED BYNo. | | Results not Entered No. | Dismissed in court No. | | 5046| 205| 77| 282| 4764| -| -| -|NOTE: - Backlog Minus (result not entered plus Dismissed in court) = Backlog reduced by 50 DAYS RESULTS 7/12/2011 TO 25/01/2012 BACKLOGNo.

| DETERMINED| BACKLOG REDUCED BYNo. | | Results not Entered No. | Dismissed in court No. | | 7500| 2249| 487| 2736| NOTE:- * Backlog Minus (result not entered plus Dismissed in court) = Backlog reduced by * After 50 days, the backlog of cases has been reduced from 7500 to 4764 cases * Left with 1,264 cases to achieve the goal of reducing backlog from 7500 to 3500 cases in the next 50 days. (4764-3500) = 1264.

6. 0 Rationality of the RRIRegardless of the rank, RRI fosters sharing of information on performance, weaknesses and strengths of taking a particular course of action. As a result stimulation of group is enhanced this triggers the ability to move and desire to focus on results rather than the process hence accomplishing and sustaining the results in a team spirit. Advocates, litigants, clerks, magistrates and judges can therefore orient and implement plans and strategies to create a sense of agency and personal challenges that defines success and raises hope for success. Besides, delivery of quality services is enhanced which satisfies the customers.

In promoting this process of RRI, team players who comprise of clerks, magistrates, advocates, litigants and judges hold consultative meetings and share relevant information that can help decide the cases amicably. A sound mechanism in dealing with the challenges encountered in the process of implementation is applied and ultimately performance is monitored and evaluated to come up with new ways of dealing with the upcoming challenges. Nevertheless, prompt payment of allowances is critical if such initiative has to be scaled to higher success. 7. 0 Challenges to Implementation of the RRI i.Some files had no handwritten notes and pleadings, making it difficult to know the position.

ii. Mixed up of some files which take time to rearrange iii. An ineffective process of service of notices to show cause to the advocates due to changed physical addresses and/or closure of office. iv. Team members not being motivated by timely payment of aid allowances v.

Re-construction of tattered files which consumes time. vi. Lack of working materials/ tools due to unavailability of impress or delayed payment of impress to buy them. vii.

Lack of transport or money for process servers to effect services in good time. iii. Inadequate transport for team members at night ix. Lack of storage of RRI/determined files x. Some members not being conversant with the court process particularly on dismissal and determined cases. xi.

Lack of computers to store data collected during the process xii. Lack of file covers In spite of these challenges, the team members held consultative meeting, where they discussed these challenges and agreed on the way forward, and where there was no way forward, the team leader encouraged team members to continue with their effort in achieving the goal, giving them hope of overcoming the challenges. . 0 Recommendations Based on the above challenges, it was for the wish of the team that, the stakeholders who include the Judicial Service Commission to: i.

Procurement of computer, printers, photocopies and scanner machine. ii. Provision of storage of determined files. iii. Procurement of adequate file covers, preferable purple in color for commercial and admiralty division iv. Provisions of adequate transport, preferably mini-bus to avoid making several trips and delaying team members to reach their respective homes in good time.

v.Transport or money is made available for process servers for quick service of the notices. vi. Allowances to be paid to the team members in good time to maintain the high morale and stamina the team has.

vii. Adequate imp rest to be given for purchase of basic requirements to carry out the RRI activities in the next 50 days. viii. The RRI team members to continue to implement RRI and other performance to improve the way we deliver services ix. RRI be made a way of working in the division and beyond since it lead to improved performance in service delivery, skills and confidence building in ability o achieve results, as well as enhancing creativity.

x. Automation of the litigation of cases-benefits:- I. Less storage space is required II. Searching and retrieval of files is very fast III.

Documents are not lost or misfiled and are available to all that need them, when they need them. IV. Documents do not age and safe from disaster-fire, water etc. V. Unlike paper documents, digital documents allow controlled access and are easy to use and set.

With computerized court registry system, court cases that lie dormant without any step being taken by either party would be flagged by the system with recommendation for dismissal. xi. The court should dismiss a suit where neither party attends court or where only the defendant attends court- order 12 rules 1 and 3 (1) of the civil procedure rules 2010 xii. Where summons to enter appearances has not been served on a defendant and no application has been made to extend the validity of the summons, the court should dismiss the suit as provided for under order 5 rule 2 (7) of the civil procedure Rules 2010 xiii.

To identify cases that are not classified as commercial and admiralty and tax appeal matters and to mention them with a view of transferring them to appropriate divisions of the high court xiv. In view of the enhanced jurisdiction of the subordinate courts, to identify cases that fall within the pecuniary jurisdiction of those courts and list them for mention with a view of transferring them to the subordinate courts for hearing and determination. xv.Training and capacity building of judicial staff to enable them operate the monitoring system of court process and court files. 9.

0 Conclusion A full report concerning the decisions made by the team members after 50 days has so far been submitted to the Chief Justice with the latest outcome in regard to the RRI. The concept of RRI is being implemented in the commercial & admiralty division of the high court with the sole purpose of reducing backlog cases from 7500 to 3500 cases in 100 days and to improve performance in service delivery of the division.RRI should be viewed as a dynamic tool of results based management to fast-track implementation of planned programs and as a structure methodology to delivering demonstrated results and enabling them to collaborate in new spirit and let them tap into their full potential of energy and creativity. In scenarios where RRI may not be applied by employees and departmental managers regardless of rank, the outcomes in the decision making process might be a hard nut to crack.