Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has appealed to the County Assembly to come up with a structured framework on how the City Magistrates Court will be reinstated.

Sakaja says since September when the Judiciary directed all cases be transferred to Milimani, has been losing millions of shillings that was previously collected as fines and penalties from those who broke the county laws.

Speaking while appearing before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, acting County Attorney Patrick Analo said Nairobi was losing about Sh1 million daily, which was collected as fines from the courts.

“We are appealing to this committee to help come up with a way that will help the operations of these courts be reversed back at City Hall. As we speak Nairobi does not collect anything from the people we arrest after committing mistakes. County is governed by by-laws and it’s really impossible for Milimani to impose fines.”

Nairobi revenue

According to Chief Officer Revenue Wilson Gakuya, Nairobi makes over Sh60 million annually from the courts.

At the same time, Analo warned that the future of about 20 staff working at the courts could not be fully promised.

“As we speak we have 17 officers who just earn a salary but don’t have work to do. We are worried that it may be difficult to retain them in the future,” said Analo.

Analo said the Judiciary should have a broad daylight conversation of how a framework will be developed for the transfer of funds from exchequer to County Revenue Fund.

In September, Judiciary announced that it had ceased its operations at City-Hall arguing that it was within the law.

Chief Registrar Anne Amadi said the Constitution brought about changes in the justice sector. This includes the enactment of the County Governments Act, which repealed the Local Governments Act.

This took away counties’ statutory mandate to establish courts to enforce their laws as was the case before.