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The Voice of Justice in the lakeside

Monday, 12th May 2009 at exactly 9:30pm, the stimulating sound of 97.3 Radio Nam Lolwe fm was received by echoes of jubilee from all corners of the Lake region by the keen listeners who tuned to catch up with the CLEAR Kisumu on air. Radio Nam Lolwe fm which serves both as news and community radio is partnering with CLEAR Kisumu to air the legal programme which takes the form of a talk show to support legal education and awareness programmes build community radio stations.

The maiden broadcast was just the first of its kind since CLEAR Kisumu came into existence. The Programme which will be broadcasted weekly is poised to take quest of justice a notch higher-on the airwaves. CLEAR Kisumu will be obliged to have legal experts who are practicing advocates make a studio appearance to give in-depth perspectives on legal issues during the radio talk shows. It is the belief that this venture will give both organizations a mutual edge with an objective of reaching out to the community and seasoning their legal knowledge with respect to the cultural systems.

After maiden broadcasts, CLEAR Kisumu embarked on intense publicity strategies and formulating legal content tailored specifically for the radio audience. This effort is continually yielding to a formidable platform for exchange of ideas and knowledge through the medium of radio. CLEAR Kisumu is capitalizing on the popularity of the radio station among the lakeside populace to propagate the legal awareness and education objectives effectively to the diverse audience.

The radio has been received with steady enthusiasm from the audience characterized by people of all walks of life. This has been demonstrated widely by the large numbers of audiences who call-in the studio during the programme to ask questions or applaud the initiative and the community.

Mr. Peter Onyango, the CLEAR Kisumu resident advocate, says that:
 “This is a dream come true. This a green pasture for CLEAR to reach those areas and people who we would otherwise not have reached physically. It is encouraging also that people are also now recognizing that they can get legal answers through radio.”

Through vernacular broadcasts the programme has a practical objective of reaching the local community in the grassroots and engaging them at their locale. Special interest groups like women groups, youth groups, Non-governmental organizations and churches are also benefiting mutually through their active participation in the programme. Noticeably, CLEAR Kisumu has seen a meteoric rise in the number of walk-in clients since the programme went on air. It is sure that the radio programme is certainly already making a difference in people’s lives.

 Story By Dennis Okore, Legal Aid Communications Intern, CLEAR Kisumu

CLEAR Kisumu has started exploring the possibilities of having a radio programmme to support the community legal education initiatives.

CLEAR Kisumu wins Justice Award
CLEAR Kisumu was selected for the JusticeMaker 2008 $5,000 award by the International Bridges for Justice. The award which is a grant will be used to facilitate training of para legals and prisoner trustees.

CLEAR KISUMU ACTIVITIES REPORT JAN & FEB 2009
 
CLEAR Kisumu started 2009 on a good footing characterized by an influx of clients into our offices. This happened despite the fact that the branch was in transition mode as new staff were coming in and there were interviews and inductions going on at the same time. This in itself was a challenge for the lean staff who were already there oiling the wheels of operations during this process.
 
We are glad that we are still in course with our objectives for the year and the new staff have really invigorated our energies so we are sure that we will serve our clients better and promptly.

Here are some of the significant activities that have been undertaken by CLEAR Kisumu:
 

Accounting for all the children at the Kisumu Children’s Remand Home

CIVIL CASES
 
We have had 13 walk-in clients:
 
10 clients were children’s cases on maintenance and custody, 7 having been referred by Children Dept. and 3 referred by friends who know about CLEAR by reason of being our previous clients. Out of these ten cases (3) negotiation meetings have been held and agreements reached. (5) potential defendants did not attend the scheduled negotiation meetings, thus (4) of the cases have been filed in court for maintenance and custody, (1) awaiting advice from the advocate and (3) cases pending negotiation meetings in March.
2 cases, though they were children’s cases, were on land matters and, since this does not fall within our expertise, they were rejected but advised accordingly.
 
1 client came to seek for legal awareness in his community through his paralegal group having heard about CLEAR from an advocate who comes from their area.
 
2 judgments have been delivered on maintenance and custody orders on 18th Feb, 2009.

 
Children at the Kisumu Children’s Remand Home line up for lunch. CLEAR-Kisumu JusticeMaker’s Project represents some of the children in court and was a sponsor of the event, which celebrates the rights and freedoms of African children

FOLLOW-UPS
 
We attended two Chief’s Barazas in February where a case of our client was to be discussed. We had requested this when the negotiation meeting held last year brought forth a lot of allegations which had to be cleared by the elders. This was ultimately successful and was very crucial in establishing the facts about the case from various  angles so that the case can be handled objectively.
 
LEGAL EDUCATION IN THE MEDIA

We have started exploring the possibility of having a radio programmme, with the help of our legal aid communications intern, to support our community legal education initiatives. To this end we have approached a local community radio station about the same and we are still ironing out the finer details of this venture. We envision that it will be a talkshow where the advocates attached to CLEAR will be involved in giving legal perspectives on the issues that affect the local communities while at the same time exposing them to the legal and justice system which most of them are oblivious to.