Economy

WB keeps Kenya waiting on Judiciary projects support

The World Bank is yet to respond to a request by the government seeking an extension of a multi-billion shilling funding of projects at the Judiciary.

In a response, the Bank said it is evaluating the request and has promised to respond "soon".

The project known as the Judicial Performance Improvement Project (JPIP) is to come to an end of December.

Treasury PS Kamau Thugge wrote on September 14 asking the Bank to extend the project to October 2020 to enable the completion of ongoing projects, including construction of courts.

“The purpose of this letter is therefore to request the Bank to grant a no-cost extension of 22 months from December 31, 2018 to October 30, 2020 to enable the smooth completion of the projects,” Dr Thugge says in the letter.

The PS said that the construction of the 19 courts will not be complete by December 2018. “This will consequently be a huge liability to the government,” Dr Thugge told the World Bank Country Director C. Filipe Jaramillo.

JPIP is the second largest stand-alone project financed by the World Bank Group and the only one in Africa.

The lender committed to spend $120 million (Sh12.1 billion) on revamping Kenya’s Judiciary. New courts have been built, cells and customer waiting bays constructed, fences and some court stations fitted with solar panels.

In July, Chief Justice David Maraga complained that the construction of the courts across the country, among other projects, would stall because the government was not willing to seek an extension. About Sh5.3 billion has been disbursed and it is expected Sh7.2 billion will have been wired by December.