Courts to be constructed in every county, Mutunga says
What you need to know:
- Judiciary will establish mobile courts to serve citizens who travel long distances to attend court cases
- an independent evaluation be undertaken to review, verify and rationalise all construction costs of courts
The government will spend Sh688 million for construction of new courts in every county, Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has announced.
Dr Mutunga said the money will also be used to complete construction of courts that had stalled.
He said the Judiciary will establish mobile courts to serve citizens who are made incur huge expenses as they travel long distances to attend court cases.
Following reports that the Judiciary might have bloated budgets in the undertaking of some projects, Dr Mutunga announced that an independent review will be done to reveal the true picture.
“We are glad that Parliament is beginning to see our point of view. Both the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and Parliament have rightly questioned the costs of our construction, some of which look exaggerated.
“I have directed that an independent evaluation be undertaken to review, verify and rationalise all construction costs. The report that shall emerge from this process shall be acted on immediately,” he said.
“Should we find that some contracts were entered into through fraud or misrepresentation”, Dr Mutunga added, “or that costs were overly inflated, decisive measures shall be taken to bring the culprits to justice.”
He said public access to justice should not be slowed down by a cartel inside or outside the Judiciary.
Dr Mutunga also vowed to stamp out corruption and inefficiency in the judiciary.
“We are strengthening the investigative capacity of the JSC in order to eliminate corruption in our midst,” Dr Mutunga said Thursday.
“We shall be developing a corruption index that will rank stations on the basis of their integrity. These reports will be used to evaluate staff and officers who apply for jobs or promotions. Ranking in the service delivery chart at station level is going to be an important initiative,” he stated.
The Supreme Court President visited Bomet, Homa Bay and Kisumu law courts on Thursday in his tour of various law courts countrywide.
In Migori, he opened a High Court registry while in Bomet he laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Bomet High Court.
In Bomet, he was accompanied by governor Isaac Ruto while in Migori, he was in the company of governor Okoth Obado , Suna East MP Junet Mohammed among other senior judicial officers in the regions.
He was expected to attend a meeting with lawyers in Kisumu in the evening ahead of a tour of the Kisumu law courts Friday.
By Geoffrey Rono, Elisha Otieno and Elvis Ondieki
