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Chief Justice Martha Koome has raised concern that operations at the Judiciary have been crippled due to budgetary constraints thereby denying Kenyans the constitutional right to unhindered access to justice. In the current 2024/25 financial year budget, the judiciary was allocated Sh23.7 billion, from Sh23.2 billion from the last financial year.

“We continue to face challenges related to judicial independence, particularly in terms of financial independence,” Koome said.

When President William Ruto ascended to power in September 2022, he promised a Sh3 billion annual increment of the judiciary budget to enhance the sector’s operations.

Despite increasing the judiciary budget by about Sh4.3 billion last year, the government has not lived to its earlier promise.

The situation was further exacerbated by the National Treasury circular issued on June 28, 2024 that ordered government agencies to reduce their expenditure to 15 per cent of the appropriated budget.

Reacting to the directive, Koome warned that the move would have far-reaching consequences on the Judiciary and the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). The Judiciairy suspended all pending recruitments including the 11 (eleven) Judges of the Court of Appeal which was scheduled to commence on July 3, 2024.

Security lapse

During yesterday’s meeting with Judiciary development partners, Koome appealed for financial support to improve the security of court infrastructure and personnel.

“With the tragic killing of one of our judicial officers in open court in June, we have been forced to re-examine our security arrangements. This is happening at a time of severe budgetary constraints,” Koome explained.

Noting that the High Court operates in 46 counties, Koome is also seeking additional funding from the development partners to establish Magistrates’ courts in over 151 constituencies which are without courts.