Judiciary softens stance on sharing of revenue with counties

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Of the Sh450 million shillings, the commission has used Sh118 million in staffing and service delivery programmes at the Kisii Law Courts alone and a similar amount in Nyamira Law Courts.
She also descried the low level of understanding of law by a large percentage of Kenyans and called for a sustained awareness campaigns in the grassroots.

The Judicial Service Commission will soon meet the Council of Governors over sharing of proceeds from municipal courts.

JSC Secretary Ms Emily Ominde said they will do a re-evaluation of their stance once they meet to discuss on the matter.

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga had recently given a directive barring municipal courts from sharing revenue with county governments. Governors on the other hand have criticized this directive.

“We will arrange for a meeting with governors to see the practicability on the issue,” she said on Friday.

Ms Ominde, together with other members of the commission spoke when they paid a courtesy call on Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi.

Mr Maangi, who chairs the Council of Deputy Governors in the country has also voiced his opposition over the matter. A similar position has also been taken by Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma.

Ms Ominde said they will do a reassessment once they meet with governors.

She also said they had set aside more than Sh450 million to upgrade court systems in the counties in Nyanza region.

Already courts in Kisii, Nyamira, Nyando and Tamu in Kisumu have received a portion of the funds to aid in the upgrading project.

“All this is aimed at ensuring justice is brought near our people and quicken the pace of the judiciary in handling the backlog of cases that had been lying with us for years,” said Ms Ominde.

High Court in Kisii

Of the Sh450 million shillings, the commission has used Sh118 million in staffing and service delivery programmes at the Kisii Law Courts alone and a similar amount in Nyamira Law Courts.

The Judiciary she said plans to set up a high court in Kisii after recently putting up those in Malindi, Nyeri, Nakuru and Kisumu.

She said the Judiciary backs devolution and asked counties to forge synergies with them in the spirit of improving judicial services in the country.
“We especially need co-operation that will aid in dealing with land cases in the country,” she said.

She said the backlog of many cases in the Judiciary had been spawned from ignorance of the constitution by many Kenyans.

“There is huge money locked in litigations which should be tapped to help in development and partly our expansion of the court systems is to tap this money and be used to develop the country,” she said.

Kisii Deputy Governor, Joash Maangi revenue generated from the Municipal Courts should be shared to spur development in the counties.

“I would wish that the JSC re-evaluate its position on this issue so that the proceeds can be shared to help in developing the counties too,” he said.