ICJ Kenya, Vice Chairman Mr. Patrick Ngunjiri earlier today, in Seychelles, represented ICJ Kenya at this year’s South African Chief Justices’ forum whose theme is “Without Fear or Favour- Maintaining a strong, Impartial, Independent and Accountable Judiciary”
In recognition and amplification of the important role that judiciaries play within the regions, the Southern African Chief Justices Forum was established in 2003 to, among other things, uphold the rule of law, democracy and independence of the courts and to promote contact as well as co-operate among the courts in the regions of its operation.
The Vice Chairman presented a paper on behalf of ICJ Kenya titled “Judicial recusal vis-a- vis the principle of impartiality.’’ He also moderated the session on Financial Autonomy, Resourcing and Judicial Independence.
Kenya is member of this Forum but didn’t send an official delegation maybe as a result of an enforced austerity measure.
‘’The conference could not have come at a better time for Kenya given that we are presently grappling with twin issues that severely undermine the independence of our judiciary,’’ said Mr. Ngunjiri. There has been a brewing impasse over the appointment of 41 new judges which alongside the drastic budget cuts that has affected how the judiciary works thereby causing a furore in the country.
These are serious impediments to the achievement of access to justice, and in the end, it is the people of Kenya who are being punished by financially crippling the Judiciary.
The forum being well appraised to the situation in Kenya frowned at the President’s failure to appoint 41 judges who were recommended for appointment by the Kenyan Judiciary Service Commission after an open and transparent process conducted under our Constitution and largely in conformity with The Lilongwe Principles and Guidelines on selection and appointment of Judicial Officers.
The failure to fully operationalize the Judiciary Fund coupled with calculated reduction of Judiciary Budget allocations over years, from 0.9 % of the total national Budget to 0.43% was noted to militate against financial Judicial independence contrary to our very own Constitution and the United Nations Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary.
ICJ Kenya recently petitioned the President to review the budget cuts noting that the move by the government to reduce Judiciary’s budget was a continuous trend by his administration to interfere with independence of the courts.
Further, ICJ Kenya noted that the reduction in recurrent funding affect quality of service delivery, including operation of mobile courts and sub-registries, equipping and refurbishing courtrooms, training of judicial officers and staff, and digitization of court processes.
