High Court stops further reduction of Judiciary budget
What you need to know:
- High Court has stopped the Executive from implementing any further cuts in the Judiciary budget.
- Meanwhile, a memo at the courts in Nyeri County Tuesday indicated that the Judiciary has halted provision of tea and newspapers to its staff including judges and magistrates owing to the budgetary cut.
- Also, payment of meal allowance has been suspended effectively from November 1,2019.
The Judiciary has won the first round of its battle with the Executive after the High Court stopped the government from further slashing its funds.
Justice Makau Mutua issued the order after the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) sued the National Treasury and the Attorney-General to protest the budget cuts.
COST-CUTTING
The judge asked the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to provide a report on how the cost-cutting has affected the dispensation of justice so far.
“Pending the hearing and determination of this case, an order is hereby issued restraining the National Treasury, its agents, officers or any persons from implementing a September 24 circular or issuing any unwarranted directive with the same effect on the judiciary's budget,” said Justice Makau.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani had last month issued a directive proposing drastic budgetary cuts on recurring and development budget of up to 50 per cent in the Judiciary.
While the directive, which was issued via a circular targeted all public agencies and proposed slashing of budget, some of the austerity measures that were set to be implemented include a ban on the use of government vehicles outside working hours, a halt on benchmarking tours and limiting delegation travelling with senior government officials.
According to Mr Yattani, the move is a cost-cutting measure targeting savings meant to support the Jubilee government’s Big Four agenda.
In this regard, Mr Yattani had circulated the said circular on guidelines for preparation of the financial year 2019/2020 supplementary estimates to all Cabinet Secretaries and accounting officers on the proposed budgetary cuts.
The said circular also indicated that there was underperformance in revenues in the financial year 2018/2019 which in turn would affect the baseline to be used in 2019/2020.
On October 9, Judiciary’s Chief Registrar issued a memo about the circular to all directors, registrars, and heads of spending units as well as stations.
The memo indicated that all mobile court sessions and service weeks programs planned between this month to the end of the year have been suspended until the budget issue is restored. Also tribunal sittings remain suspended.
According to LSK in the suit, the budget cut would greatly interfere with the independence of the Judiciary and the general dispensation of justice to Kenyans.
Justice Makau directed that the case be mentioned on November 6 for further directions.
NYERI MEMO
Meanwhile, a memo at the courts in Nyeri County Tuesday indicated that the Judiciary has halted provision of tea and newspapers to its staff including judges and magistrates owing to the budgetary cut.
Also, payment of meal allowance has been suspended effectively from November 1,2019.
Staff have also been directed to ensure that all electronic devices such as computers are used sparingly and switched off when not in use.
Further, heads of the financial spending units within the Judiciary have been asked to put in place measures to ensure efficient utilisation of the ‘available meagre resources’.
The affected expenditures include communication, transport for both domestic and foreign travels, printing, advertising and information supplies and services, training expenses, hospitality, office and general supplies.
Others include fuel, routine maintenance of vehicles, machines and other transport equipment, refurbishment of buildings and purchase of vehicles.
Due to the stalemate between the Executive and the Judiciary, operations of the Court of Appeal in Nyeri also hang in the balance owing to the slashing of domestic travel allowances and shortage of judges.
This means that the three-judge bench cannot make regular visits to the region as has been the case in the past, which has a backlog of about 800 cases.
As of July 2018, the Judiciary had requested Sh31.2 billion to fund its operations for that financial year however, it was only allocated Sh17.3 billion.
The judiciary at the time had anticipated Sh19.8 billion for recurrent expenditures, Sh11.4 billion for development and Sh891 million for the JSC.
JSC, Senate, Parliament and the International Commission of Jurists Kenyan Chapter are listed as interested parties in the case.
