TAMBAYA GETS A NEW COURT
The people of Mukurwe’ini Constituency, Nyeri County will be receiving a 5 story Magistrate Court that will contribute towards improving the timeliness of Judiciary Services. The litigants and stakeholders will be able to receive quality services and enable the Judiciary to dispense justice equally to all. The new court building will have 4 court rooms, 5 chambers, spacious registries, separate cells for male, female and juveniles, offices for prosecution counsel, witness protection room, ramps for physically challenged for both litigants and staff and other facilities required by law.
The Court was initially started at Tambaya market during the colonial period. The market got its name ‘TAMBAYA” from the words ‘SAA MBAYA’ which the colonialist used to tell the locals “…. you are coming to court at the wrong time”.
Since 1999, the Mukurwe’ini court has been operating from leased premises with only two court rooms from the local administration. The building used to serve as a colonial officers’ mess. The kitchen area of the mess was converted into a registry. The chimney was demolished to create more office space for the court. The court serves a population of approximately 83,932 people according to the 2009 population census covering an area of 178.6km2. Prior to occupying the leased house, the court used to be at a building that was constructed in 1930 by the colonialist as a residential house. The residential house was commissioned as a court in 1948. In 1999, the government found building inhabitable and condemned it. In consultation with the National Museum of Kenya, part of building will be retained as a historical monument in the new court building.
The site for the new Mukurwe’ini Magistrate Court, measuring 0.2231 hectares was handed over to One Source Construction Ltd to build the court at a cost of Ksh. 158million. The construction should take approximately 18 months to complete and will also include ICT facilities and other security features. The new facilities will contribute towards the reduction of case backlog, reduce the distances people travel to Nyeri to have some of their cases heard, reduce the time period litigants receive services and improve access to information. The Judiciary continues to strive to improve delivery of services and corporate image of the Judiciary.
Cracks on the old Mukurweini Law Court building which was condemned.
The National Museum of Kenya gazetted the old building built in 1930, as a historical monument. Part of the building will be preserved and included in the new court building.
Current court premises at the Mukurwe’ini Law Courts
The building accommodates two court rooms.
Hon Wendy Micheni hands over site plans and ESMP reports to Barbara Okara of One Source Construction Limited
A Registry/Office at Mukurweini Law Courts