Chief Justice David Maraga has said that Kenyans may wait longer for their cases to be decided, following government move to reduce judiciary budget by more than half from what they had asked for.
Giving an update of the budget cut in Nairobi, Maraga said the Judiciary requested for Ksh31.2 billion to support its operation in the 2018/19 financial year but ended up with Sh14.5 billion which is not enough to implement most of the projects.
“The undertaking by the Chief Justice to ensure that all cases above five years old are cleared by December 2018 is now a mirage. This is because our backlog clearance strategy involves moving Judges and Magistrates from their stations to assist in areas with heavy backlogs during Service Weeks. With the current budget allocations this will no longer be possible,” said Maraga.
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The CJ also said that the judiciary will have to stall other structural projects it was undertaking which would see efficient service delivery in the institution.
“When Parliament passed the appropriation Act, the Judiciary’s total budget was reduced to Ksh14.5 billion. Out of this, the development budget from the government is only Ksh50 million, compared to Ksh2.6 billion allocated to the judiciary in the 2014/15 Financial Year. The Ksh50 million is expected to cover new and ongoing projects, repairs and maintainance, as well as ICT infrastructure for the courts. We are at loss over how to use this money,” lamented Maraga.
This means that the 41 government funded projects which are at various stages will stall. These are Homabay, Kabarnet, Marsabit, Amagoro, Kandara, Machakos, Supreme COURT, Kiambu law Courts, Embu, Mandera, narok,Eldoret, Othaya, Bomet, Garsen,Mombasa, Kitale, Neri, Maseno and Makadara.
Out of the Kh31.2 billion Judiciary requested, Ksh19.8billion was to be set aside for recurrent budget while development and resource requirement were to take Ksh11.4 billion and Ksh891 million respectively.
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