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{
    "id": 974098,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/974098/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 646,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tharaka, DP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. George Gitonga",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13491,
        "legal_name": "George Gitonga Murugara",
        "slug": "george-gitonga-murugara"
    },
    "content": "pursuant to the provisions of the Constitution and Section 5(2)(b) of the Judicial Service Act. It does rhyme very well with what the Executive does every year in a ceremony presided over by His Excellency the President when he comes to Parliament to address Parliament on the State of the Nation in his annual address to the nation. I would draw a parallel that Parliament too should copy these two institutions because this is a process of checks and balances. This is how one Arm of Government checks the other; by ensuring that it reports to the other what it is doing and justifying its existence, especially when it comes to budgeting. So, I do not know. It is a matter of debate as to how Parliament will report to the rest of the country as we once did a while ago. Unfortunately, we cannot debate ourselves. The debate on what we are doing, once given to the country, will have to be done elsewhere. Be that as it may, mine will be to urge the Judiciary to use one of the best institutions it has – the Judicial Training Institute which rivals only the Government training institute at Kabete in terms of its ability to train officers. We are likely to get better quality judges, magistrates and staff if the Judiciary makes maximum use of this. The Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs deliberated on these Reports and it has made several recommendations, which Members will have to read from the Reports. Also, it is important to note that these Reports are elaborate. The first one, 2016-2017, has seven chapters. The 2017-2018 one has 10 chapters. Both are dealing with matters of interest to this country when it comes to legal affairs. We have made several recommendations. They are all in favour of enabling the Judiciary to function well. It goes without saying that a country governed by the rule of law must have a robust Judiciary. There is no way the rule of law can be enforced in a country unless it has a Judiciary that is not only independent but which is also corruption-free. What ails our Judiciary most of the time is, or are, allegations of corruption. They are told “you are not doing what you are supposed to unless there are external influences”. That renders the decisions that the Judiciary makes ineffective. It is important that we enforce our Constitution, which sets up the Judiciary Fund. We have enacted the Judiciary Fund Act. We have passed the Regulations there under but that Fund is not working under the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act up to now. The reasons we are given is that the Consolidated Fund is not able to remit the money immediately because most of the time we budget on monies we do not have. We budget on monies that will be collected by the taxman or, we hope to borrow, or we hope to get grants. Therefore, there is no money to transfer upon passing of the Budget. However, I think it is high time we started living within our means and budgeting on the money that we have so that we are able to carry out the obligations we have under the law. So, we need to operationalise the Judiciary Fund with immediate effect so that we do not have the Chief Justice (CJ), the Chief Registrar of the Courts or any other person crying out to the media, seeking sympathy from the public that they are not able to function because they do not have money. Especially in Kenya, where we have a monster known as the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), which is anchored in the National Treasury and Planning. It releases money to you as and when they feel like. That is not acceptable, especially when it comes to an independent Arm of Government that needs direct funding from the Consolidated Fund to its own treasury. Therefore, I urge that the Exchequer is timeous, money is released in time. Also, the courts must ensure that they do their work properly. If need be, we can make it law that revenue generated through court fines, court fees and forfeitures is used at source. Once we do this, we expect the Judiciary to move with speed and complete its projects. In Tharaka, we have a The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}