Why budget committee should see the Judiciary and security nexus

PHOTO | SALATON NJAU Parliamentary Budget and Appropriations Committee chair Rev Mutava Musyimi at Parliament Buildings on March 13, 2014.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• Kenyans will benefit most if the High Courts are close enough. They will benefit most if dedicated police know that their work will yield justice for victims.

By Godwin Murunga
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The story on judicial budget tucked on page 23 of the Sunday Nation (March 30 2014) illustrates how jaundiced our legislators perceive investment in judicial infrastructure and services.

Led by the Rev Mutava Musyimi, who chairs the Budgetary and Appropriations Committee, legislators cited the high cost of the development expenditure in the Judiciary budget decrying the wastage involved. Rev Musyimi wondered why the Judiciary is not getting its own contractors, quality surveyors, engineers and architects if it has a huge programme of construction.

The rationale for this huge programme of construction should not be surprising to anyone, most of all Rev. Musyimi. It was articulated a while ago in the Judiciary Transformation Framework, 2012-2016.

The Judiciary aspires to have a High Court in every county, to decentralise further the Court of Appeal and refurbish old courts. This cost is one-off and an important investment in easing access to justice for the Kenyans, and especially the Police.

Early this year, I conducted a study on mapping insecurity in Kenya for the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Shield for Justice. The study sites included police stations. We visited 18 police stations spread across seven counties.

The study was complemented by other reports including one by Usalama Forum titled ‘Communities and their Police Stations’ that covered 19 other police stations.

One station we covered was Ntimaru police station in Kuria, Migori County.

Here, I was informed that the closest High Court, where capital offences can be prosecuted, is in Kisii town. The distance from Ntimaru to Migori Town, perhaps less than half the distance to Kisii, is simply prohibitive, running to over 50 kilometres in remote landscape on earth road.

It was impossible for the investigating officer to travel in one working day to Kisii and back to attend to capital offence court matters.

Matters were complicated by the fact that Ntimaru police station had a police lorry plus one pick-up vehicle. If both vehicles are engaged, an officer required in court has to find alternative personal means to court armed with his evidence and witnesses.

LACK OF JUDICIAL REDRESS

While the prosecution process can provide transport refund for witnesses, the same facility is not extended to investigating officers or those supporting prosecution.

Worse, the security of the evidence in a case is difficult to guarantee as there is no adequate infrastructure for keeping, securing and transferring evidence to court. Police offices are in a debilitating state.

Ntimaru is not alone in this sorry state of affairs as the Ransely Report confirmed. The result of this complicated situation is that many criminal cases are lost, dropped or ignored for lack of access to courts and infrastructure to sustain the case.

The Budget and Appropriations Committee must acquaint itself with the many other police stations that mimic Ntimaru. I would imagine that places like Baragoi, which we visited, are worse.

Some of these remote places are also notorious for banditry and violent murders. Not only is there a connection between incessant crime and lack of judicial redress, but this situation almost always morphs into a political problem where those who instigate criminal activities, as we were repeatedly told in Kuria, embrace impunity, threaten people and dominate politics knowing they will face no consequences.

Kenyans will benefit most if the High Courts are close enough. They will benefit most if dedicated police know that their work will yield justice for victims.

The Budgetary and Appropriations Committee should of course examine costs and curb wastage, where these are confirmed.

But unverified reference to the wonder of construction activity at a public university should not be substitute for good budget thinking.