- Amadi said one of the areas that is critically underfunded because of the 56 per cent shortfall is for elections-related expenses.
- The Judiciary lost about Sh800 million in the Sh3.66 trillion budget read in Parliament on June 10 this year by Treasury CS Ukur Yatani.
Image: FILE
Chief Registrar of Judiciary Anne Amadi wants budgetary allocation to Judiciary enhanced to Sh39 billion for the next financial year as the country gears up for the general election.
Amadi said one of the areas that is critically underfunded because of the 56 per cent shortfall is for elections-related expenses.
There were 188 election petitions filed in 2013 which increased to 388 in 2017. Going by this trend it is expected that in 2022, the petitions will double.
The Judiciary lost about Sh800 million in the Sh3.66 trillion budget read in Parliament on June 10 this year by Treasury CS Ukur Yatani.
It was allocated Sh17.5 billion in the 2021/22 financial year, a marginal decline from Sh18 billion allocated in the 2020/21 financial year.
Amadi was speaking during a virtual public hearing to enable members of the public participate in the Judiciary Budget preparation process for the financial year 2022/23.
Director of Finance Susan Oyatsi who was also present at the event said from the proposals, they have a deficit of Sh29 billion which translates to 56 per cent.
This she said, will cause them to go back to the drawing board because of the indicative ceiling they have been given.
“Given the huge resource gap, there is need to ensure that Judiciary’s budget is enhanced for it to operate optimally and deliver services effectively to the citizens.”
Oyatsi said the Judiciary is currently unable to recruit adequate numbers of judicial officers and staff that are required to effectively handle the workload since the current staffing levels falls below the optimal number.
The budget shortfall has also affected construction of courts, expansion and improvement of existing court facilities and provision of residential houses for judicial officers.
Other critical under-funded areas are mobile courts, recruitment of judicial officers and staff and a digital strategy meant for rolling out to courts among others.
According to the Judiciary, there are eight counties that have no High Court station, seven High Court stations without any judge, 123 constituencies without any court which must be served through mobile courts and circuits.
At the same time, Oyatsi said priority areas of funding for FY 2022/23 will go into witness expenses to ensure speedy conclusion of matters, pro bono facilitation to ease the cost of justice for the poor, operalisation of small claims courts including recruitment and facilitation of adjudicators, provision of generators, power backups, funding of ongoing 33 court constructions.
Other priority areas will be renovation and refurbishment of the Supreme Court building, Machakos, Murang’a, Makadara and replacement of Asbestos in various courts, and completion of construction of 11 courts.
Similarly, the number of cases aged five years and above reduced from 35,359 in the financial year 2019/20 to 34,648 in financial year 2020/21
Oyatsi said as a result of the implementation of Case Tracking System , a total of Sh2.4 billion (from fees and fines) was collected in the financial year 2020/21 marking a seven per cent increment in revenue from the financial year 2019/20 despite the ravaging effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Main features of CTS include e-filing, e-case search, e-diary, e-payment and e-receipting, e-signature, e-stamping, e-assessment and generation of court orders.
Still under the performance review, court facilities were improved through completion of six High Courts and one magistrate court with the support of the World Bank funding.
The courts are Kakamega law courts, Isiolo law courts, Nanyuki High Court, Maralal law courts.
-Edited by SKanyara