Denying Judiciary money will hurt Kenyans and war on graft

Chief Justice David Maraga flanked by members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) addresses a press conference at Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 24, 2018. [David Njaaga, Standard]
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After cutting the Judiciary's budget, Parliament allocated itself Sh42 billion. This came after members had increased their pension by 700 per cent and soon after raised their pay. Nothing defines hypocrisy more than such subjective reasoning by people entrusted with the responsibility of moving this country forward. MPs make the laws and the Judiciary interprets them. Therefore, they are joined at the hip and must never work at loggerheads. To disadvantage the Judiciary through denial of funds is a disservice to Kenyans. It is in the public domain that the Executive and the Legislature have treated an independent, assertive Judiciary with suspicion, but to cripple its operations through starving it of funds is going too far. With the limited budget and no funding from the World Bank, the CJ has intimated that 70 building projects will be put on hold while 50 mobile courts will be suspended to allow the Judiciary to operate within its budget. The Judiciary will be unable to hire more magistrates and judges. Sadly, this will ensure that the quest to clear a backlog of cases that have taken too long in court fails.