Judges want own homes to avoid influence of landlords

The Judiciary has asked the Treasury to give it cash to build official residences for judges and other judicial officers, arguing leasing homes to third parties could undermine the independence of the courts.  

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga reckons that landlords hosting judicial staff could blight their objectivity when dispensing justice.

Judges in Nairobi earn a house allowance of Sh80,000, according to the schedule provided by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), while magistrates earn between Sh35,000 and Sh60,000.

“Currently, judges are not provided with official residence forcing them to be housed by third parties that could pose conflict of interest in the dispensation of their duties,” Dr Mutunga said in the Judiciary budget for the 2016/17 financial year that was tabled in the National Assembly by Leader of Majority Aden Duale last week.

The quest to acquire a home for the Chief Justice has been derailed by integrity issues, prompting the Sh310 million home to remain vacant since being bought in April 2013 

The Judiciary bought the Runda property from Machakos senator Johnstone Muthama at a time when a bank was holding its title deed in exchange of a multi-million shilling loan.

READ: CJ’s Sh310m home bought while under bank ownership

The Judiciary bought the property despite an incomplete valuation report, without furnishings and before accessing details like the status of the lease and charges on the home.

The Treasury has allocated Sh15 billion to the Judiciary to fund its recurrent and development expenditure in the financial year starting July.

The Judiciary had sought Sh17.8 billion for the year under review.

Dr Mutunga said the enhanced budget would enable the Judiciary to fund its activities including construction of 12 High Court stations in counties.

The Judiciary had budgeted Sh4.5 billion for development and the bulk of the money will go towards refurbishment of non-residential buildings and new court stations across the country.

“In an effort to improve access to justice, we recommend that the National Assembly needs to ensure increased funding to the Judiciary for recruitment, development of projects and implementation of e-procurement and other electronic platforms for improved efficiency,” Dr Mutunga said.

The Judiciary targets to establish High Court stations in each of the 47 counties as provided for in section 8(1((L) of the Judicial Service Act. Dr Mutunga said 12 counties will have new courts.