The Kenyan government agreed on Monday to provide additional budgetary support to the Judiciary to facilitate the recruitment of 36 new judges and to conclude the vehicle leasing program to enhance the judiciary’s transport needs.
The agreement was part of a broader consensus reached after a meeting convened by President William Ruto at the request of the Judiciary, which also sought to work together with the Executive and the Legislature to fight corruption, improve service delivery and enhance accountability to the people.
State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed said in a statement that the meeting was aimed at “building approaches to fight corruption, enhance accountability and to facilitate the efficient and seamless delivery of services to the people of Kenya.”
He said that the Executive and the Legislature agreed to support the Judiciary’s request for additional budgetary support to facilitate the recruitment of 25 High Court judges and 11 Court of Appeal judges, as well as to conclude the vehicle leasing program to facilitate the judiciary’s transport needs.
He added that each arm of Government committed to “enhance service delivery, fight corruption and promote the overall administration of justice to enhance accountability to the people of Kenya.”
He also said that the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary agreed to individually develop policies, guidelines, regulations and legislative proposals to achieve these objectives and submit them to a forum of the National Council of the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) convened by Chief Justice Martha Koome within 30 days.
“This forum will provide a roadmap for the immediate, medium-term and long-term measures to be undertaken,” he said.
He concluded by saying that the three arms of Government committed to perform their functions in a manner that respects, promotes and enhances the rule of law, institutional independence and respect for court decisions.