Stalled Ksh500 Million Court Projects: Judiciary Points Finger at Executive
The Judiciary, commanded by Chief Justice Martha Koome, is now rushing to complete the construction of eight new courts costing over Kshs 500 million that has stalled.
Tuesday before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly, Judiciary Chief Registrar Anne Amadi explained that financial constraints hampered their efforts to complete the projects.
In her defense, Amadi cited several factors, including insufficient budgetary allocation and budget cutbacks, to explain the difficulties encountered. In the 2023/2024 fiscal year, the Judiciary was allocated Ksh23 billion, which was Ksh5 billion more than the Ksh18.8 billion allocated in the previous year.
She noted, however, that they were committed to completing the projects and were in the process of recruiting contractors to evaluate their rates and expedite the projects.
The Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly summoned Amadi to cast light on the status of the Ksh505,496,667-worth of projects.
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The committee chair, Suba MP John Mbadi, also requested her response to an audit report warning that the Judiciary was behind schedule, which was presented on October 17 at the parliamentary buildings.
Mbadi emphasized that some initiatives had been delayed for more than seven years without providing evidence of the causes.
“Review of the project status reports and field inspections for various court stations revealed that the construction works for eight projects worth Kshs.505,496,668 had not been completed.”
“In these circumstances, it was not possible to confirm whether the public will obtain value for money on the delayed construction of the projects,” the MP cited an excerpt from the report.
In addition, the Judiciary reportedly struggled to recover Kshs. 14,180,234 in outstanding imprests from its officers, including senior judges.
Amadi noted, contrary to the audit report, that the outstanding interest had been returned.
“By the time of the audit, the imprest were still outstanding, but I want to confirm to this committee that they have now been surrendered,” she told them.
Stalled Ksh500 Million Court Projects: Judiciary Points Finger at Executive
