GAZETTE NOTICE NO. 13371

the following guidelines are issued— 1. COURT PROCEEDINGS (a) All pleas shall be registered by 9.00 a.m. The Court Users’ Committees shall guide in instances where it is practically impossible to effect registration by 9.00 a.m. (b) Every Plea Taking Court shall have two court assistants. The first court assistant shall serve the magistrate by calling files and any other duty of the court as provided. The second court assistant shall assist in processing of the payment of fines/cash bail as per the court’s direction. (c) The second court assistant shall be provided with a laptop, a printer and uninterrupted access to the CTS, backup power (UPS system) and internet provision (modem). They shall; (i) Enter the outcome of the Plea-taking session into the Case Tracking System. (ii) Generate an invoice for the amount of fine/cash bail as per the Court’s direction. (iii) Print the invoice in duplicate and give the accused person for purposes of making payments. A copy of the invoice shall be retained in the file. (d) The process of payment of fines and cash bail shall be done in open court. (e) The Judicial Officer shall inform the accused person or their representative that the invoice is available on the case portal through the Public Information Kiosk (PIK) and that they can access the portal and make payments as per the invoice generated in the system. (f) Once payment has been made, the second court assistant shall verify from the Case Tracking System that the full invoiced payments have been made, subsequent to which they shall prepare the Release Order. (g) The second court assistant shall be enabled to print the receipts for the payments made in triplicate. A copy of the receipt shall be given to the Accused Person or their representatives for their records, another copy shall be retained in the court file while the triplicate copy shall be given to the accountant in charge of revenue collection for purposes of accounts reconciliation. (h) The Release Order shall then be forwarded to the Magistrate for signing. (i) Upon signing, a copy of the Release Order shall be given to the in-charge of the court cells for processing of the release of the accused person(s). (j) The accused person(s) who are unable to make payments in open court, shall only be returned to the cells with a copy of an invoice for the fine or cash bail granted, and only after reasonable time has been given for the payment of the fine or cash bail. (k) In respect to the cases where the accused persons are unable to make payments the court assistant shall prepare a committal warrant as prescribed in the Policy Guidelines on Court Committal Warrants issued on 15th June, 2022. 2. PAYMENTS NOT MADE ON THE DAY OF PLEA-TAKING (a) If no payment is received by 4.00 p.m. on the day of taking plea, a Committal Warrant shall be prepared and the accused person(s) processed for committal as per the laid down guidelines. The file shall then be sent to the registry for further processing. (b) The Court Administrator or the in-charge of the registry shall ensure that any subsequent request is processed timely in accordance with the laid down procedures. (c) As the Committal Warrants are being prepared, the accused persons’ representatives shall be informed that should they wish to make payments at a later date, the same can be made through provided payment channels. They shall inquire from the registry through the provided telephone contacts and make payments as per the invoices generated by the registry accessible through the portal via the information kiosk. Once they pay the requisite amount, the court shall process the release order and relay the signals to the holding facility. (d) Each Registry shall provide a link or working telephone contacts where litigants with queries or follow-ups can access the court virtually for assistance. 3. PROCESSING OF RELEASE ORDERS WHERE OTHER CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN IMPOSED Where other conditions other than deposit of cash bail have been imposed, the court assistant in charge of processing payments, shall ensure that before processing a release order, the file is forwarded to the Court Administrator to verify that conditions imposed by the duty court are met. 4. ACCOUNTS RECONCILIATION Each court station shall have an accountant in charge of revenue collection to conduct daily revenue collection reconciliation to ensure compliance on financial controls. This shall involve perusal of the court files together with the Court Administrator with a view of confirming that the amount receipted reconciles with the amount of fines/cash bails imposed, and thereafter file a report with the Accounts Department. 4432 4432 5 CASH BAIL UTILISATION In case the court gives direction for cash bail utilization, the court assistant in charge of processing payments shall forward the file to the Court Administrator or the in-charge of the registry for onward transmission to the Accounts Department for processing and ensure there are no unnecessary delays. 6. ENHANCED CUSTOMER SUPPORT A dedicated Automation Support Unit, with Call Centre and dedicated personnel, has been set up by the Directorate of ICT. 7. AUTOMATION The Directorate of ICT shall automate the above process within thirty (30) days from the date of issuance of these Guidelines. 8. FLOW CHART FOR PROCESSING PAYMENTS OF CASH BAIL/ FINES AND GENERATING COMMITTAL WARRANTS 9. MISCELLANEOUS The Chief Justice may amend these practice guidelines from time to time. Dated the 1st September, 2023. MARTHA K. KOOME, Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya.