SMS Enhanced Justice: Towards Efficiency and Convenience in Court Cases

Abstract

We seek to bring convenience and efficiency in the process of accessing justice through the courts of law. A lot of time and money is wasted when litigants travel long distances to visit court registries, in order to know the status of their cases. It is also very inconveniencing and frustrating for litigants when they travel for long, only to find that the judicial officer handling their case had given notice that there will not be any sitting on a particular date. In this project, we are developing an integrated solution to these challenges, dubbed FAMALIA. It is a web and SMSbased application that electronically manages the court cases by the Kenyan Judiciary. Litigants and interested parties can access the system via SMS. So far, details of over 28,000 cases have been entered into the system. It is expected that the system will greatly improve access to justice. Relevance to innovation. Famalia is an innovative service within the judicial process in Kenya. It provides a new way of accessing case related information in a convenient, efficient and timely manner. It is a premier solution not only in Kenya but also in the region. By using SMS, Famalia provides social impact by being accessible to even the marginalized people who may not access the courts easily. It is accessible to anyone who can access a phone. With the judicial process being similar all over the country and in neighbouring countries, the solution is replicable and has potential for scaling.