From barber to mediator and why you should forgo that court case

When Covid-19 struck in 2020, Alexander Gitau had established himself in the beauty industry, running a barbershop for close to 20 years.

However, that was soon to change. 

Gitau discovered he had a soft spot for giving counsel his mostly male clients on issues of marital troubles, parenting squabbles and family politics.

He realised that his advice seemed to work and this inspired him to try out something different with his life. 

When Covid-19 affected his business, he decided to explore his counselling skills by training in mediation, a move that has landed him into a new career.

He later enrolled for mediation studies while at the same studying  theology at St Paul University.

“It surprised many people because I had been in the barbershop business from 2002 to 2020 when Covid-19 turned everybody’s life upside down. I had a loyal base of customers but I decided I wanted to explore something different,” he said.

To get accredited as a court annexed mediator is a rigorous process, which includes an internship period and vetting  for certification. 

“I had made up my mind that this is what I wanted to do and so I was ready to do all it took. My mediation internship was at Kilifi court before starting the registration process.”

After he was enlisted as one of the country’s 1,500 court annex mediators, Gitau was allocated six courts whose files the Judiciary requires him to handled from time to time. Since then, he has never looked back.

“I am passionate about mediation and I have always believed that instead of going for expensive adversarial litigation in court, it is much easier and harmonious to settle things through talking,” he said. 

“This is what I always told my clients. If you have an issue with your friend or relative, talking it out while embracing the spirit of give and take will lead to a long-lasting solution than fighting it out,” he added.

Gitau, 44, says he enjoys his work though it is emotional draining.

Kenyans are still slow to take up mediation because of the notion that they won't extract a settlement high enough, he said.

In a highly litigious country where all manner of conflicts clog up the court systems, he adds, court annex mediation is the best way forward.

Gitau's role as a mediator is to act as the convener for the conflicting parties to talk and has a legal duty to be impartial.

In mediation the process is guided by clear beacons given by the courts and the parties involved are appraised on them before settling for it.

“In mediation, parties are guided not to raise their voice against each other, no calling each other names and the outcome is binding to all after they voluntarily agreed to the reached settlement,” he said. 

“They also don’t require advocates arguing out their cases. The advocates can be there to guide them but not to speak for them because it is not an adversarial process. Instead, we are looking out for [a situation where warring parties can reach a] common ground.”

The possible outcomes of mediation are full, partial or no settlement at all and his role is to help them reach any of them.

Court annexed mediation was introduced by the Judiciary in an effort to alleviate case backlog and in line with Article 159 (2) (c) of the Constitution on promoting alternative forms of dispute resolution including reconciliation, mediation, arbitration and traditional dispute resolution mechanisms.

Mediation has been rolled out since 2016 as an initiative to promote alternative dispute resolution.

It is part of the social transformation through access to justice vision of Chief Justice Martha Koome which seeks to, among others, expand the doorways of justice.

“I am a student of Martha Koome’s model of access to justice because she is very passionate about court annex mediation as an alternative dispute resolution process," Gitau said. 

The outcome of the mediation process is then taken to the court to be signed out as orders of the court, giving them a force of law.