The Judiciary wants National Treasury to allocate it Sh2 billion to buy 212 Mercedes Benz vehicles for judges.
In its budget estimates for 2019/20, Judiciary requested for additional Sh2 billion to buy the fuel guzzlers for High Court judges and newly-employed ones.
In a letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly Michael Sialai, to be forwarded to the Budget and Appropriations Committee, Judiciary wants Sh883 million to purchase 80 Mercedes Benz E200 at Sh11 million each for High Court judges and Sh453 million for 41 similar vehicles for newly-employed judges.
Defending the purchase of the vehicles, the Judiciary says judges were being forced to share vehicles due to shortage.
The Judiciary wants a further Sh260 million for 41 4×4 Chev Trailblazers at Sh6 million each for High Court Stations, Sh383 million for the purchase of 50 4×4 Ford Rangers each at Sh8 million for magistrates courts and Sh153 million for 20 Ford Rangers for its various departments’ transport pool.
Additional funding will be required to cater for priority areas, such as ICT automation, which are underfunded to the tune of Sh2.97 billion. The judiciary is also seeking Sh1 billion for the purchase of land for the construction of the Judiciary Training Institute.
In total, Judiciary is seeking an extra Sh5 billion to address the shortfall in allocations by the National Treasury.
The Treasury had allocated the Third Arm of Government Sh2 billion, which is contained in the approved Budget Policy Statement.
“We still have a shortfall due to the enormous case load,” read a letter by Paul Maina, Deputy Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, in part.
Chief Justice David Maraga has persistently termed Judiciary funding inadequate. The total allocation to the Judiciary was 0.57 per cent of the country’s budget in 2018/19 financial year.
National Assembly Leader of Majority is expected to table the budget estimates and the Finance Bill, which will later be relayed to the different committees that will hear from different arms of government and State departments, after which the Budget committee will review the presentations.