State seeks extension of World Bank funding for Judiciary

The national government has written to World Bank seeking an extension of funding of projects at the Judiciary.

The project known as the Judicial Performance Improvement Project (JPIP) is scheduled to come to an end on December 31, this year and failure by the government to seek an extension would have seen more than 30 courts under construction, stall.

In a letter dated September 14, 2018, Treasury Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge has asked World Bank to extend the projects to October 2020, to allow for their completion.

“The purpose of this letter is to request the bank to grant a no-cost extension of 22 months from December 31, 2018 to October 30, 2020 to enable the smooth completion of the projects,” reads part of the letter by Dr Thugge.

19 COURTS

The PS said the construction of the 19 courts will not be complete by the time the funding closes.

“This will consequently be a huge liability to the government,” Dr Thugge said in the letter to WB Country Director C. Filipe Jaramillo.

In July this year, Chief Justice David Maraga complained that the construction of the courts across the country among other projects, would stall because the government was not willing to seek an extension.

He also complained that there are a total of 100 court stations being constructed across the country; 30 of them under the JPIP funds.

The government had allocated a development budget of Sh11.4 billion to the Judiciary; comprising government’s funding of Sh8.5 billion and a World Bank loan of 2.9 billion.

JPIP is a five-year programme which started in April 2013.

Some of the ongoing constructions are the Kajiado, Nakuru, Kapsabet and Kapenguria law courts.