Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association (KMJA) has come out to fight over the slashing of judiciary budget by members of the National Assembly.
KMJA said in a press conference held at the Supreme Court that,Parliament drastically, unexpectedly and fragrantly slashed judiciary’s 2018/2019 budget which will bring the its operation s into halt.
The association through its Secretary General,Derrick Kuto asked the government to allocate judiciary enough funds to demonstrate it’s good will to partner with with judiciary in fight against corruption.
“Government urged judiciary to help on the fight against corruption by fast tracking cases but yet the same government deny judiciary enough funds to facilitate the same” said Kuto.
Judiciary had submitted a budget of 31.2 billion for the year 2018/2019 financial year only to be allocated 17.2 billion.
The proposals comprised Sh19.8 billion for recurrent expenditures, Sh11.4 billion for development and Sh891 million for the Judicial Service Commission.
“Slashing the judiciary budget means that there will be no construction of new courts, the old one will not be expanded and mobile courts shall be suspended ” said association.
The association further said that judicial officers have been attacked and injured because of tiny offices which doubles as courtrooms. The budget cut will hinder the expansion programme.
They said that the independence of the judiciary is under serious threat.
Kuto said that the position of KMJA is that for the independence to be realized,a fixed percentage of the National Budget every fiscal year ,should be allocated to the Judiciary.
“We call upon the legislature and the Executive to urgently appreciate and correct this anomaly so that “Wanjiko” “can effectively access justice without these roadblocks.
Mr Kuto said that Kenyans confidence with judiciary has gone up and more Kenyans bringing their disputes to courts for settlement.
“The confidence can only be sustained if the judiciary is availed adequate funds to oversee it’s blueprint ” said Kuto.
He call upon legislators and the Executive to urgently appreciate and correct the anomaly so that ” Wanjiku” can effectively access justices without roadblocks.
