The Judiciary is a moribund with over a thousand judges and magistrates, with runaway corruption, city lawyer Ahmednasir Abdulahi has claimed, hours after Chief Justice requested for more funds from Treasury.
Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, the avid lawyer, popularly ‘grandmula’ criticized CJ Maraga’s recent push for additional funding to the Judiciary, arguing that the dispensation of justice is not anchored on buildings.
The lawyer was responding to the CJ’s Tuesday afternoon press conference in which, flanked by other Judicial Service Commissioners, demanded an additional Sh14 billion to facilitate the implementation of reforms in the judiciary, in addition to funding projects of new courts across the country.
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“Judiciary is not about buildings...buildings...buildings...we would have been very sympathetic if the judiciary was delivering for Kenyans...it isn't...with over 1000 judges and magistrates the judiciary is moribund...backlogs...runaway corruption...inefficiency and many more,” Ahmednasir tweeted.
70 projects to stall
The President of the Judiciary on Tuesday warned that a total of 70 ongoing court modernization and construction projects were headed for a halt following drastic budgetary cuts.
According to Maraga, the downward revision of Judiciary funding capped at Sh17.3 billion in the 2018/19 national budgetary policy statement to Sh14.5 billion in the Appropriation Act had left the Judiciary with only Sh50 million in development budget.
While addressing the press at the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice expressed disappointment at the unilateral decision to reduce Judiciary’s allocation despite the judicature having requested a total of Sh31.3 billion during the budget-making process.
“When Parliament passed the Appropriation Act, the Judiciary’s total budget allocation was further reduced to Sh14.5 billion. Out of this, the development budget from the government is only Sh50 million, compared to Sh2.6 billion allocated to the Judiciary in the 2014/15 Financial Year,” Maraga compared.