Were Judiciary staff locked out by hackers seeking to stall IEBC appeal?

The Judiciary offices at the Supreme Court Building along City Hall Way, Nairobi. (Photo: Judiciary)

By Joseph Ndunda
Monday, July 14, 2025

Chief Registrar of Judiciary (CRJ) Winfrida Mokaya on Monday skirted around the issue, avoiding confirming that the same was a forced takeover of the system and instead, likened it with common system digital hitches globally.

The Judiciary's independence was exposed on Wednesday, July 9, following the supposed infiltration of its digital systems by suspected hackers who locked staff out.

The Judiciary's Case Tracking System (CTS) was grounded shortly before midnight, hours after a three-judge bench cleared the way for gazettement and swearing in of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson and commissioners.

Chief Registrar of Judiciary (CRJ) Winfrida Mokaya on Monday skirted around the issue, avoiding confirming that there was a forced takeover of the system, and instead likened it to common system digital hitches globally.

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"Beginning July 10, 2025, the Judiciary's public-facing platforms, including the e-filing system and Cause List portal, experienced intermittent access issues due to some external interference that temporarily disrupted network services," said Mokaya in a press statement.

"Like many digital platforms globally, our systems are occasionally susceptible to technical disruptions. The e-filing system and associated services operate within a complex digital infrastructure, and, from time to time, may experience interruptions."

While Mokaya alluded that the failure is ordinary, sources within the Judiciary say pro-government operatives had moved quickly to prevent anyone from making an application to stay the orders paving the way for the commissioners' taking office.

The operatives technically shut down the CTS, stalling judicial operations and the delivery of justice in disarray.

"We were expecting them (hackers) to release it back after the commissioners were sworn in, but it wasn't back on Friday. Today (Monday, July 10), we came to work very confident that we will find it restored because it was being worked on over the weekend, but it is not yet back," said a judiciary staff member.

Mokaya said the Judiciary's technical team "responded swiftly" and initiated a service resumption process, which is still ongoing.

While Mokaya alleged partial restoration was achieved on Sunday, July 13, 2025, the systems worked for only one hour on Monday, with the CRJ saying additional technical challenges occurred on the same day.

But the hackers are yet to restore the system to normal, either because they don't care after attaining what they wanted or are unable to restore it.

Among those affected by the system failure are the criminal suspects and convicts, including petty offenders who are unable to receive release orders from the courts after paying cash bail and fines, respectively.

She said the Judiciary has endeavoured to ensure the uptime of systems despite occasional challenges, most of which have been resolved promptly.

Mokaya again made an allegation that despite these challenges, judicial services have remained accessible through alternative channels provided by the Judiciary.

Specifically, she said 282 applications filed under certificates of urgency and time-bound pleadings have been received through official court email addresses and are currently under processing.

Additionally, Mokaya said 2,256 criminal cases have been filed and processed during the same period.

However, the suspects in most of the criminal cases are stranded in prisons because they were not able to get release orders after paying cash bails or after the system failure made it impossible for them to deposit the cash bails.

Petty offenders and traffic offenders alike are suffering the same fate because they are not able to pay fines after pleading guilty or being convicted.

"I know a warrant has been issued against me because I declined to walk into the courtroom on Friday to take a plea. I knew I would remain in prison for a long time after pleading guilty because the system won't allow me to pay the fines the same day," said a matatu driver who had been released on bail by Makongeni police station, Nairobi.

The email addresses Mokaya claims to be in use do not enable payments and generation of release orders; therefore, they are only working for divisions other than the criminal.

She says guidelines have been issued to users on the filing process as e-filing services are progressively restored.

"All users are advised to carefully follow the instructions outlined in the notice. A copy of the latest notice is attached. Adding that the Judiciary remains committed to ensuring uninterrupted access to justice," said Mokaya.