JSC to hire 18 people to political disputes tribunal ahead of polls

The Judiciary is set to recruit 18 more persons for the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) ahead of the August 9 general election.

PPDT determines disputes arising out of political parties’ affairs, among other electoral processes, especially cases arising from nominations.

The new ad hoc members will serve for a period of one year and will join a team of six members and a chairperson, who are already serving.

Chief Justice Martha Koome said in a statement ahead of the recruitment that the Judiciary is committed to perform its constitutional and statutory obligations to empower the Tribunal to deal with “the avalanche of election-related disputes that are anticipated when political parties commence the nomination process”.

Judicial Service Commission (JSC) will receive applications from February 9 to 16, followed by selection.

“The Commission expects to conclude the recruitment as soon as possible to allow the new Members to undergo induction and other training on judicial skills and judge-craft before they are deployed to handle cases,” Justice Koome, the chairperson of JSC said.

The recruitment comes soon after the Judiciary pleaded with Parliament for additional funding to deal with election petitions, expected after the August 9 polls.

Chief Registrar of Judiciary Anne Amadi asked for an extra Sh5 billion which it says is not provided in the budget for the financial year 2022-23 yet it is critical to the poll process.

Ms Amadi said Judiciary has a budget shortfall of over Sh18 billion having been provided with half of the Sh39.56 billion for its operations.

Among the items, she cited for additional funding is the Sh681 million deficit for election-related expenses. It is anticipated that electoral disputes will increase given the trend experienced in the 2017 and 2013 polls. 

In 2013, for example, 188 election petitions were filed and the number increased to 388 in 2017. 

Other than judges gazetted to hear election petitions, there are special benches constituted to interpret constitutional matters. The law states that electoral disputes must be concluded within six months.