The legal space, which I am in, is not spared of this infrastructure and income issue. For example, while practice in the three cities and major towns in Kenya is almost fully virtual and online, is almost possible for hearings and filing of court documents to be done remotely, the same does not apply to upcountry practice.
Due to the Kenyan version of load shedding, that often hit (up)countryside the most, and poor internet quality (both bandwidth and broadband*), handling a case in an upcountry court station oftentimes mean physical attendance, hearings and filing of documents despite technological gains and advancements of the recent past.
On the income issue, a large percentage of Kenya’s population cannot afford legal services, leave alone quality legal services. The high demand for probono legal services, the undercutting and the rise of masqueraders, fakes and quacks in Kenya’s legal scene points to, among others, the masses’ genuine need for legal services and their genuine inability to pay for the said legal services.
