The Chief Justice David Maraga (pictured) has lashed at the Executive accusing some of its organs of trying to muzzle the Judiciary by reducing its budget.
In a press briefing on Monday morning in Nairobi, Maraga accused the acting Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury, Ukur Yatani, of overstepping his mandate by trying to control the budget of the Judiciary.
"The Cabinet Secretary for Finance has no control over the Judiciary budget," said CJ Maraga.
He said that the law stipulates that the National Treasury must deposit the funds meant for the Judiciary at the Judiciary Fund after parliamentary approval.
The CJ was categorical that the need for autonomy accords Judiciary special treatment in which its budget cannot be micro-managed by the Executive.
He attributed the special treatment to democratic system which requires the three arms of government to be at par in exercising authority.
He said in democratic states, Constitutional Power is constrained power; that that no single arm of the government is authorised to exercise to lord over the other power equally and each has to stick to its lane.
"None of the three arms of government should control another," he said.
After being silent on the debate about the Judiciary budget cuts, Maraga came out in a tell-it-all press briefing and blamed the cash crisis on the cases being handled in courts touching on some people serving in government.
He said that such individuals are out to cripple courts but the Judiciary would remain unmoved.
"In some decisions the Judiciary makes, they are bound to clash with [the interest of] some officials in government. It is for this reason that some officials in government are crippling the Judiciary by starving it of funds."
While referring to the budgetary allocation for the Judiciary, CJ Maraga said that in the 2013/2014 fiscal year, they received Sh17 billion, or 0.99 of the entire national budget. He said this was their highest ever.
Stalled services
The Judiciary boss decried the stalling operations at the courts which he said were inevitable as there was no alternative solution.
He said the mobile courts will be stalled, vehicles serving judiciary officers will be parked, anti-corruption courts will be grounded and even their technology department will be paralysed since they have no money to foot internet bills.
These, Maraga said, may translate into backlog of cases caused by the immobility of judges and lack of enough courts.
While talking about his trip to the diaspora, the Chief Justice said that attempts to try cases involving far-flung litigants communicating with the court through video links will be impossible, going by the status quo.
He said that they are not asking for money equivalent to what is allocated for the ministries for health and education; but just what is enough to serve the people as the law requires.
Maraga did not hold back against the Leader of Majority in the National Assembly [Aden Duale], who the CJ said had said that there was no budgetary cut in the Judiciary.
The Treasury slashed Judiciary's budget by Sh3 billion last on September, citing revenue shortfalls and the need to raise funds for President Uhuru Kenyatta's Big Four agenda. It squeezed Sh131 billion out of different Government agencies.
The Judiciary had requested Sh31.2 billion, but Parliament allocated it Sh14.5 billion, which Treasury has now slashed to Sh11.5 billion.
On October 29, 2019, the Labour Court in Malindi and High Court in Nakuru suspended sittings and sent out public notices citing budgetary constraints.
Court officers and judges who spoke to The Standard warned of an imminent collapse of the justice system if the crisis was not urgently addressed.
This is the first time the country is staring at total paralysis in the Judiciary due to lack of money.
Additional reporting by Paul Ogemba and Kamau Muthoni.
