•They spoke during the commissioning of a Sh65 million Narok law court block on Friday.
•In July, Maraga warned that unless the government provides adequate funding to the Judiciary, its programmes will not be implemented in time.
Image: KIPLANG'AT KIRUI
Two MPs from Narok county have pledged to ensure that the Judiciary gets enough funds to avert case backlog and guarantee smooth operations.
Narok Senator Ledama ole Kina and Narok North Member of National Assembly Moitalel ole Kenta decried the Judiciary budget cuts and the delayed swearing in of 41 judges, alleging it was crippling service delivery.
They spoke during the commissioning of a Sh65 million Narok law court block on Friday.
The building was officially opened by Chief Justice David Maraga.
In attendance was Narok Governor Samuel Tunai, Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi and Narok Land and Environment High Court Judge Justice Mohammed Kullow.
“The delaying tactics despite the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) conducting interviews and recommending their employment is pure sabotage on the wheels of justice,” said Kina.
He added that as long as Judiciary will continue receiving money from the Treasury, the Executive will continue controlling it.
“If there will be a constitutional change I will be among those who will be fronting for an independent budget for the Judiciary and the Legislature to enable them operate autonomously and perform their duties devoid of intimidation,” he said.
On his part, Kenta asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to allow the swearing in of the judges, whom he said are crucial for the functioning of the Judiciary.
"I call on the Parliamentary Legal Affairs and Budget Committee to work round the clock to ensure that the Judiciary gets the funding it deserves to ensure that ordinary Kenyans access justice," said Kenta.
In July, Maraga warned that unless the government provides adequate funding to the Judiciary, its programmes will not be implemented in time.
When Maraga took to the podium, he avoided the topic and instead said the Judiciary is committed to ensuring cases still pending in various courts are sped up.
He also said they have started using technology in operations to fasten all court processes and ensure everybody gets justice.
"We are hoping that all the stakeholders will start using E-filling so that make the process easy and reduce backlog of cases," the said the CJ.
Maraga also pledged to establish a children’s court in Narok owing to the rising cases of teenage pregnancies, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriages.
“These vices are problematic in Narok and that is the reason in the near future we need to establish a children’s court to ensure justice for the girl child. I have handled such cases before and the vices leave the minors traumatized forever,” he said.
Tunai called on the Judiciary to consider alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to solve perennial land disputes in the county.
“We have thousands of land tussles involving group ranches and cases are in court. Most of these cases can be resolved by elders to avoid them threatening peace amongst community members,” said Tunai.
The county boss urged the chief justice to consider setting up magistrate courts in all the sub counties of the county so as to reduce the burden of the common mwananchi who travel from far areas to seek for justice.