NAIROBI, Kenya, July 20 – The Judiciary has rejected the Law Society of Kenya’s (LSK) planned nationwide boycott of court proceedings on Wednesday, insisting that all courts across the country will remain open and urging advocates to resolve their grievances through dialogue rather than disrupting judicial services.

📻 Breaking It Down

In a statement issued on Monday, Judiciary Spokesperson Paul Ndemo said the institution did not consider the planned boycott to be “an appropriate or proportionate response” to concerns raised by the lawyers’ body, warning that the action would primarily hurt litigants awaiting the hearing and determination of their cases.

“The institution does not consider a boycott of court proceedings to be an appropriate or proportionate response to the concerns raised. Such action would primarily prejudice litigants and other court users whose matters are scheduled for hearing and determination,” the statement said.

The Judiciary assured members of the public that all courts throughout the Republic would continue hearing and determining matters as scheduled on Wednesday, July 22, despite the boycott call.

📌 What You Need to Know

“Accordingly, all courts throughout the Republic will remain open and will continue hearing and determining matters as scheduled on Wednesday, 22 July 2026. Litigants and other court users should therefore attend court as scheduled,” Ndemo said.

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The response follows the LSK’s announcement that advocates will boycott court proceedings nationwide to protest what it describes as persistent failures in the administration of justice, including delays in hearing and determining cases, late delivery of rulings, inefficiencies in court registries, concerns over judicial accountability and the working environment for advocates.

LSK President Charles Kanjama said the one-day boycott would not affect the filing of new cases. Court mentions and applications involving interim orders will proceed only to secure fresh hearing dates or extend existing interim orders where necessary.

While acknowledging that delays and adjournments remain legitimate concerns, the Judiciary maintained that responsibility for case delays extends beyond the courts.

According to the institution, data from the 2024/25 financial year shows that the leading causes of adjournments were witnesses failing to attend or being unprepared (16.8 per cent), parties failing to attend (12.3 per cent), advocates failing to attend or being unprepared (11.5 per cent), and courts being engaged in other official duties (10.9 per cent).

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya