Chief Justice Willy Mutunga addresses the media at his office at the
supreme court on March 2, 2014. He has said new courts will be
constructed in every county. PHOTO/ANN KAMONI
The
government will spend Sh688 million for construction of new courts in
every county, Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has announced.
Dr Mutunga said the money will also be used to complete construction of courts that had stalled.
He
said the Judiciary will establish mobile courts to serve citizens who
are made incur huge expenses as they travel long distances to attend
court cases.
Following reports that the Judiciary
might have bloated budgets in the undertaking of some projects, Dr
Mutunga announced that an independent review will be done to reveal the
true picture.
“We are glad that Parliament is beginning
to see our point of view. Both the Judicial Service Commission (JSC)
and Parliament have rightly questioned the costs of our construction,
some of which look exaggerated.
“I have directed that
an independent evaluation be undertaken to review, verify and
rationalise all construction costs. The report that shall emerge from
this process shall be acted on immediately,” he said.
“Should
we find that some contracts were entered into through fraud or
misrepresentation”, Dr Mutunga added, “or that costs were overly
inflated, decisive measures shall be taken to bring the culprits to
justice.”
He said public access to justice should not be slowed down by a cartel inside or outside the Judiciary.
Dr Mutunga also vowed to stamp out corruption and inefficiency in the judiciary.
“We
are strengthening the investigative capacity of the JSC in order to
eliminate corruption in our midst,” Dr Mutunga said Thursday.
“We
shall be developing a corruption index that will rank stations on the
basis of their integrity. These reports will be used to evaluate staff
and officers who apply for jobs or promotions. Ranking in the service
delivery chart at station level is going to be an important initiative,”
he stated.
The Supreme Court President visited Bomet,
Homa Bay and Kisumu law courts on Thursday in his tour of various law
courts countrywide.
In Migori, he opened a High Court
registry while in Bomet he laid the foundation stone for the
construction of the Bomet High Court.
In Bomet, he was
accompanied by governor Isaac Ruto while in Migori, he was in the
company of governor Okoth Obado , Suna East MP Junet Mohammed among
other senior judicial officers in the regions.
He was expected to attend a meeting with lawyers in Kisumu in the evening ahead of a tour of the Kisumu law courts Friday.
By Geoffrey Rono, Elisha Otieno and Elvis Ondieki
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