The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has suspended the recruitment of Court of Appeal judges following a 15 percent budget cut in the National Treasury appropriation budget. Initially, the Judiciary was set to receive Ksh.24 billion for the 2024/25 budget, but with the new directive, the allocation has been reduced to Ksh.20 billion.
JSC chairperson Chief Justice Martha Koome stated that this budget cut will have significant consequences on Judiciary operations, necessitating major adjustments to planned programs.
One such adjustment is the suspension of the recruitment of 11 Court of Appeal judges, which was set to commence on Wednesday. Koome emphasized that this will impact the handling of pending cases.
“Currently, the Court of Appeal has a total of 29 Judges serving in only six stations across the country which translates to 9 benches at any given time. The court had a total of 13, 331 pending cases as at May 2024,” the statement read in part.
Further, the JSC pointed out that the death of Magistrate Monica Kivuti of the Makadara Law Courts necessitated a restructuring and reallocation of the budget to meet security arrangements to provide a safe environment for all users of the courts.
“The Judiciary will therefore require additional resources in the FY 2024/2025 to address these immediate concerns.”
Chief Justice Martha Koome promised to engage Parliament and the Executive to enhance and secure the Judiciary’s budget. The budget cut aligns with the austerity measures promised by President William Ruto to affect all arms of the government following the rejection of the Finance Bill.
President Ruto also announced that budgetary expenses for the offices of the First and Second Lady would be scrapped. Additionally, he promised to reduce salaries for public officers to reflect the current economic state of the country.
