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COMMUNITY JUSTICE CENTER
KITUI
About Kitui Community Justice Center
Isaac Mutinda (second right), Coordinator, Kitui Justice Centre, discussing legal issues with other community-based paralegals from the Kitui Community Justice Centre.
Here is a story of how Mutinda alerted the police of underage marriage enabling them to take the necessary legal action.
The story was published in the Nairobi Star on 9thJan, 2013.
An underage girl protested at the Kitui police station on Tuesday after the police locked up her ’19-year-old husband’. The 15-year-old who sat her KCPE examination at Kamaembe Primary School in Nzambani subcounty last year had reportedly eloped with the man on January 1. She accused the police of trying to ruin her young marriage.
The protesting girl had been arrested alongside her husband by Kenze chief, Mulandi Kitongu, after he was alerted of the marriage by the Coordinator of the Kitui Community Justice Centre NGO Isaac Mutinda. The police did not lock up the girl as they intended to take her to the Kitui county referral hospital for medical examination.
“Even if you locked him up in the cell, you would break up our matrimonial union. He is my official hubby and he will remain as such,” the girl said. Kitui Central OCPD Muchangi Kioi the young man will face defilement charges. He said he will be arraigned in court once the medical examination results are out.
Objectives
- Promote integration and development in Kisauni Constituency
- Promote transparency and accountability in development issues
- Advocate for the integration of community priorities into the Government agenda
- To ensure equal/fair distribution of projects in Kisauni Constituency
- To identify and network with strategic development partners
Activities
- Carryout needs assessment in Kisauni constituency
- Organize workshops/outreaches and barazas to empower the community on public funds and other development agenda.
- Follow up on public funds and ensure that the intended beneficiaries benefit.
- Advocate for integration of community priorities into Government agenda
- Write memos/ petitions to relevant authorities to address community concerns
- To conduct site visits to monitor development projects
- To engage the government and strategic partners on the development agenda.
- Mobilize community members to participate in development forums.
Achievements
- Organized public forums in the entire constituency where Kisauni residents were empowered with public funds.
- Developed Community Action Plans in all the wards of Kisauni Constituency.
- Mobilized community members to participate in the LASDAP process.
- Built a working relationship with leaders in the constituency.
- Unified community members around development issues.
Organs - The CBOs Assembly
- Comprises of registered CBOs in each ward of Kisauni Constituency.
- CBOs must be active; non-political and development-oriented.
- Membership to the assembly is granted once a member has read the constitution, agrees to be bound by it, and upon payment of a membership registration fee of Kshs.300 and a monthly subscription fee of Kshs. 100.
- Each ward holds its CBO assembly annually on the 1st week of July.
Organs - Ward committees
- Comprises 21 members in each ward of Kisauni Constituency, making a total of 231 members.
- Members represent women; men, youth; persons with disability; persons living with HIV/AIDS, religious organizations, retirees, village elders, and business operators. They are elected by the CBO assembly.
- Their roles are to: advocate and articulate the needs of the ward, empower community members in the ward, present proposals to the constituency committee, and promote liaison with NGOs, CBOs, the private sector, and Government agencies.
- Ward committee meetings are held at least once every month.
Organs - The Constituency Committee
- Comprises 2 members from each ward making a total of 22 members.
- Members are elected by the ward committees.
- Its roles are: to follow up on pressing issues in the constituency; act upon ward issues raised by ward committees; identify development opportunities and disseminate widely to Kisauni residents; and network with strategic partners.
- The committee meets at least once every month
Through this centre NDFW hopes to work together to ensure:
