JSC denies Shollei claims of cashing in on too many meetings

PHOTO | DIANA NGILA Former Registrar of the Judiciary Gladys Shollei during a press conference at Hotel InterContinental on October 21, 2013.

What you need to know:

  • She tabled letters she had written to Chief Justice Willy Mutunga asking him to intervene and stop the JSC from meddling in the financial management in the Judiciary.

The Judicial Service Commission Tuesday denied allegations that its top brass was pocketing millions of shillings as sitting allowances by holding too many meetings.

In a statement signed by registrar Winfrida Mokaya, the commission maintained that the meetings for which its commissioners received allowances were within the law.

The commission further said the sitting allowance per meeting was Sh56,000 and not Sh80,000 as alleged by former chief registrar of the Judiciary Gladys Shollei.

“The remuneration is taxable, which brings the next sitting allowance as set by PSC to Sh56,000 and not Sh80,000,” Ms Mokaya stated.

The commission sought to explain the seemingly high number of meetings it has held since it was reconstituted under the new Constitution — 491 in total — saying they were necessitated by the transformation programme which has seen JSC hire more judges, magistrates and judicial staff.

Disciplinary issues

“Since the JSC was reconstituted under the new Constitution, it has held 491 meetings — 70 full commission meetings, 280 interview meetings, 104 ad hoc (specific) meetings to deal with various issues such as the establishment of the committee on the International Crimes Division and deal with disciplinary issues,” Ms Mokaya stated.

She added that the Human Resource Management, and Finance and Administration committees each held 61 and 39 meetings respectively.

“Interviews and disciplinary meetings constitute the largest proportion of the meetings JSC held. These duties cannot be delegated,” she said.
The commission said the frequency of meetings is on a steady decline as the need for hiring staff has gone down.

During a meeting with the parliamentary Budget and Appropriations Committee last week, Mrs Shollei claimed that JSC commissioners had received over Sh125 million in two-and-a-half years through sitting allowances by holding over 400 meetings.

She told the MPs that even though the meetings were provided for in the Public Service Commission regulations, the JSC can only meet not more than twice a month.

However, the commissioners held 467 meetings for which allowances were paid when it ought to have held only 48 meetings, she stated.

Some MPs in the committee complained that the highest paid commissioner, Ms Florence Mwangangi, had received Sh18 million for meetings held on different dates between January 2011 and July 2013, and was making more money than other State officers.

Mrs Shollei told the committee that the huge perks had disrupted spending plans, forcing her to separate the money for the Judiciary and that of the JSC in the current budget.

She tabled letters she had written to Chief Justice Willy Mutunga asking him to intervene and stop the JSC from meddling in the financial management in the Judiciary.

When she got no help from the CJ, she wrote to National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich seeking further guidance.

Mr Rotich responded and copied a letter to Dr Mutunga with a terse warning that the commission should not interfere with Mrs Shollei’s mandate as the accounting officer of the Judiciary.

The number of meetings and allowances is not secretive and has been disclosed to Parliament before through the Judiciary Annual Report of 2012.

But in a rejoinder, the JSC maintained that its members were entitled to siting allowance, per diem, medical insurance and out-of-pocket allowance since they served on a part-time basis and, as such, do not draw any salaries.