Chief Justice Martha Koome on Monday, January 22 held a meeting with President William Ruto and National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula.
The meeting held at State House, Nairobi, was convened at the request of the Judiciary, in the wake of sustained attacks by President Ruto and his allies towards the Judiciary.
Top of the agenda included; consultations to deliberate on building approaches to fight corruption, enhance accountability and to facilitate the efficient and seamless delivery of services to the people of Kenya.
‘Corruption a threat’
During the meeting, it was agreed that corruption is an existential threat to the nation which has permeated the three arms of Government, undermining Kenya’s tremendous development potential and sabotaging the much-needed transformation.
Henceforth, each of the three arms of Government committed to enhance service delivery, fight corruption and promote the overall administration of justice, which will in turn enhance accountability to the people of Kenya.
“The Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary agree to individually
develop policies, guidelines, regulations and legislative proposals to achieve the objectives of fighting corruption, improving service
delivery and enhancing institutional accountability of all arms of
Government to the people of Kenya,” a circular from State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed reads in part.
30-day deadline
Subsequently, each arm of Government will — within 30 days — submit the proposals made to a forum of the National Council of the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) convened by CJ Koome.
This forum will provide a roadmap for the immediate, medium-term and long-term measures to be undertaken.
Judiciary budgetary support
The Executive and the Legislature also agreed to support Judiciary’s request for additional budget, so as to optimize the efficient delivery of service and the fight against corruption.
Additional budgetary support to, it was agreed, will aid the Judiciary achieve; the recruitment of an additional 25 Judges of
the High Court, recruitment of 11 new Judges of the Court
of Appeal and finance the vehicle leasing program to facilitate the judiciary’s transport needs.
