SIDE BAR

How budget cuts cripple justice

Court of Appeal will not be able to sit in Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Nyeri

In Summary
  • Plans to automate anti-corruption courts to ensure graft cases are dealt with quickly have stalled
  • Mobile courts across the country have been shut down
President Uhuru Kenyatta congratulates the newly sworn-in Chief Justice David Maraga at State House
UNDER SIEGE: President Uhuru Kenyatta congratulates the newly sworn-in Chief Justice David Maraga at State House
Image: FILE

Chief Justice David Maraga says budget cuts have immensely hampered the courts' ability to dispense justice.

For example, he said, as a result of budget cuts the mobile courts across the country have been shut down.

Wifi has been disconnected due to lack of funds.

The CJ said judges' cars will not have fuel because the Sh 400 million ICT budget which would have catered for it has been scrapped altogether.

The Court of Appeal which normally sits in different towns on rotation to hear cases will not be able to go to Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Nyeri.

Plans by Judiciary to automate anti-corruption courts to ensure graft cases are dealt with quickly have also come a cropper with budget cuts.

The Judiciary has also been forced shelve plans to open virtual courts in the Kenyan embassies in UK and USA to enable Kenyans living in Diaspora to participate in their cases.

The effect, he said, spills over to clearing of the backlog of cases with the shortage of staff.

Annually, Kenyans file 400,000 cases and with the current staff, Judiciary is able to deal with only 300,000 leaving some 100,000 drag on.

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