Chief Justice Martha Koome has blocked the Chief Registrar from appearing before MPs to explain why the Judiciary has failed to hire a finance director for seven years.
Ms Koome has written a letter to the Speakers of Parliament, arguing that the summons undermines the independence of Judiciary.
Chief Justice Martha Koome has blocked the Chief Registrar from appearing before MPs to explain why the Judiciary has failed to hire a finance director for seven years.
Ms Koome has written a letter to the Speakers of Parliament, arguing that the summons undermines the independence of Judiciary.
She has also blocked the human resources committee of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) from appearing telling MPs why more than ten positions at the Judiciary lack substantive heads.
Ten officers holding senior positions like directors and principal officers have been in acting capacity for between 16 and 40 months.
The Auditor-General has flagged Ms Susan Oyatsi who was first appointed to act as the Director of Finance in February 2015 by the then Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and has since been interviewed twice for the position.
“The Judiciary respectively awaits the resolution of the issues raised before engaging with the committees of Parliament pursuant to the summonses issued to the Chief Registrar and the JSC as outlined,” Ms Koome said.
Justice Koome has written to Parliament complaining of ‘harassment’ of Judiciary Chief Registrar Anne Amadi through incessant and multiple summons by committees.
Ms Koome said MPs have summoned the HR committee of the JSC for a follow-up discussion on the position of the director of finance, a matter that is squarely the responsibility of the Judicial Service Commission.
The CJ now wants the Judiciary and Parliament leadership to engage as a matter of priority to resolve issues surrounding the independence of Judiciary and parliamentary oversight.
Ms Amadi, who was expected to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) together with at least two of the seven-member human resources committee, snubbed MPs yesterday.
Ms Amadi instead wrote to the committee drawing its attention to a letter by Ms Koome who is also the President of the JSC to Speakers Justin Muturi (National Assembly) and Ken Lusaka (Senate) on parliamentary oversight over the Judiciary and JSC.
“In the recent past, we have had frequent and multiple summons from Parliament, overlapping and duplicating summons from different committees of the House and also between the two Houses to discuss the same issues. Part of it borders on harassment,” Ms Koome wrote.
on July 7, 2021.
The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Committee had summoned Ms Amadi and the human resources committee to explain why several key officers had been in acting capacity for between 16 and 40 months.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu in the 2018/19 audit of the Judiciary and JS said ten staff are on acting appointments contrary to the Judiciary Human Resources Policies and Procedures Manual.
Some of the positions had been held for over three years contrary to Section B20 (iii) and (iv) of the Judiciary Human Resources Policies and Procedures Manual.
PAC wanted to grill the JSC committee for failing to substantively appoint officers to various positions at the Judiciary.
The audit faulted the HR committee for flouting several sections of the Judiciary Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual.
“The manual requires acting appointments to be held for a maximum of 12 months that can only be extended by a final acting period of six months,” Ms Gathungu said in an adverse audit opinion.
She said after the 12 months a decision must be made to either confirm the employee, extend the acting for a further six months or revert the person to the former post.
MPs Aden Duale (Garissa Township) and Joseph Nduati (Gatanga) accused the CJ and the Chief Registrar of contempt of Parliament.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
