Top Judiciary officer sent on forced leave
What you need to know:
- But Chief Registrar says it is not about the poor condition of Milimani courts
The Judiciary’s procurement officer has been sent on forced leave as an audit of the court buildings started on Wednesday.
Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has also written to Public Works minister Chris Obure on the state of the Milimani Law Courts where the ceiling has collapsed and locks malfunctioned eight months after renovations were completed.
Following Dr Mutunga’s letter, Public Works PS John Lonyangapuo led top ministry officials on an inspection tour of the courts.
The visit by the PS was, however, kept away from the media, but Chief Registrar Gladys Shollei said: “The procurement officer is on leave. He was sent on leave last week not on the particular issue of the Milimani Law Courts but over other issues,” she added.
The Public Works ministry was responsible for supervising the contractors who refurbished the courts as well as other Judiciary buildings country wide.
On Tuesday, Dr Mutunga took journalist on a tour of the Milimani courts, opened in February, but which is literally falling apart.
Broken sewers, ceilings caved in and a VIP lift stopped functioning five months after commissioning, all threatening public safety.
Internet has also not worked.
The CJ suspended all ongoing construction of courtrooms to pave way for structural, forensic and financial audits following revelations of corruption and poor workmanship.
The structural audit would be conducted by the Ministry of Public Works. The ministry will be joined by an independent inspector.
In the past three months, ceilings in the Milimani court rooms have caved in injuring a policeman. Others occurred when the courts were not in session.
The contract to refurbish the building went to NK Brothers Construction Company, the firm behind the controversial military projects worth Sh4 billion.
The former Income Tax House building was refurbished at a cost of over Sh1 billion and was meant to provide accommodation for 19 magistrate courts and 37 judge’s courts.
The cost of refurbishing the building was initially set at Sh600 million but it jumped to more than Sh1 billion after a variation. The project work took eight years to be completed, three years behind schedule.
The opening of the building in February was Mr Evan Gicheru’s last public appearance as Chief Justice.
