Last week Chief Justice David Maraga (pictured) launched the State of The Judiciary and Administration of Justice Report (SOJAR). Through this report, the Judiciary makes public its self-appraisal for the period in question.
In a remarkable shift from the tradition of kowtowing to the whims of Executive, the Judiciary has been able to make positive steps in the administration of justice and exerting its independence. Notably, this began when Chief Justice Willy Mutunga was at the helm. From having 11 High Courts in 2011, Dr Mutunga increased the number to 34 by the time he left in 2016. He also increased the number of judges from 42 to 104 in the same period and expanded the sittings of the Court of Appeal to include Kisumu, Nyeri and Malindi.
Under him, the concept of continuous hearings, designed to clear the backlog of cases, was born. When he took over from Mutunga, Maraga made an undertaking to ensure the continuous hearings would achieve their aim. But while the intention was noble, the execution has proved to be more of a challenge due to several factors. An inadequate number of judges, quorum hitches at the Court of Appeal, inadequate budgetary allocations to fund the Judiciary’s projects and programmes have conspired to thwart Maraga’s efforts.
By close of 2020, Maraga would have reached 70 years and therefore ready to leave office. But as matters stand today, he will not have achieved much of what he set out to accomplish due to budgetary constraints. Lately, that seems to have worn him down, so much so that he recently accused members of the Executive of scheming to discredit the Judiciary by crippling its operations. There has been a case of bad blood between the Executive and Judiciary, whose origin can be traced to the nullification of the presidential election in 2017.
On its part, Parliament has not been of much help to the Judiciary’s cause. Indeed, a standoff ensued last year after Parliament slashed the Judiciary’s budget from the requested Sh31.2 billion to Sh14.5 billion, from which Treasury took a further Sh3 billion, compounding matters for the Judiciary.
Consequently, Maraga warned the public of delays in clearing cases. Digitisation of a judiciary that still is, to a larger extent, analogue remains in balance. Matters relating to the appointment of new judges by the Judicial Service Commission are still unresolved. With Treasury’s recent move to cut budgets across the board, the judiciary finds itself between a rock and a hard place, yet it is expected to be guided by the dictum "justice delayed is justice denied".
The Judiciary’s dilemma is understandable. As the final refuge for justice and fairness where, mostly, the poor find recourse, it must be facilitated to give its best. If budgets cuts will defeat the fair, timely delivery of justice, then an upward review is in order.
