Utilizing AI to Improve Efficiency of the Environment and Land Court in the Kenyan Judiciary

Abstract

The number of land disputes in Kenya continues to increase with population and economic growth. In 2013, the judiciary established the Environment and Land Court (ELC) to hear disputes relating to environment and land. Unfortunately, the ELC is plagued with the same problems affecting Kenya’s other courts; chief amongst these is an extensive backlog of cases. Past attempts by the judiciary to eliminate this backlog have met with varying degrees of success. In this paper, we argue that augmenting human abilities with AI technology is a viable means of tackling this case backlog. This paper outlines AI tools that may aid legal personnel in the ELC in performing their duties and, ultimately, reducing the number of pending cases.