National Assembly majority leader and Garissa Town Member of Parliament Aden Duale has endorsed the move to slash Judiciary budget by the treasury, terming it normal.
In a tweet, Duale stated that it was normal for the the budget to be slashed once a report had been made submitted to the house involved in making the decision, hence within the law.
“Slashing of budget is normal, it’s within the law. Once the Budget Appropriations Committee makes a report and the House decides, the Minister can rationalize any arm of Government,” read the tweet.
Slashing of budget is normal, it's within the law. Once the Budget Appropriations Committee makes a report and the House decides, the Minister can rationalize any arm of Government. @citizentvkenya #DayBreak #KCPE2019 pic.twitter.com/lG1KNrKpfI
— Hon. Aden Duale, EGH (@HonAdenDuale) October 29, 2019
Read: Tug Of War As High Court Orders Suspension Of Judiciary Budget Cuts
This follows the announcement by the Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatan to have the judiciary budget cut by 50 percent to reduce the recurrent Government expenditure.
The move was not taken well with majority of legislators opting to challenge it through a petition filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).
In its petition, the LSK argued that the slashing of the budget intimidated delivery of justice in the country and would lead to the suspension of judicial services across the country.
“While the LSK and the public should commend the austerity measures adopted by the Executive, the effect of the same on independent arms of the government [such as] the Judiciary will greatly paralyze dispensation of justice,” said LSK CEO Mercy Wambua.
Read: State Officials, MPs To Use Internet Calls As Treasury Scraps Benchmarking Trips
The National Environment Tribunal canceled its sittings for a period of two months citing budgetary constraints as a result of the slash.
The tribunal called upon the judiciary to take charge of the matter and advice on the next action.
In a memo dated October 2, the National Environment Tribunal addressed the advocates and general public of their decision to cancel their sittings.
“The National Treasury has reduced our budget by 50%. Consequently, we are unable to conduct our sittings from October to December 2019,”read the memo.
Today, the High Court has ordered the Treasury to suspend the directive on budget cuts for the Judiciary pending determination of the petition by LSK.
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