LSK gives State seven-day ultimatum to review Judiciary projects

Rehabilitation of the Nyando Law Courts building is among those set to stall due to the budget cut.

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has asked the Government to evaluate donor-funded projects that will be affected by the 50 per cent Judiciary budget cut.

LSK President Allen Gichuhi said the decision to cut the budget allocation will adversely impact on taxpayers when contractors penalise the Judiciary for delayed payments. He warned that the bilateral donors and the World Bank could withdraw funding.

“This dramatically escalates the cost of the incomplete projects, some of which are more than 90 per cent complete. The presidential directive that all pending projects must be completed will be jeopardised,” he said.

Projects such as construction and rehabilitation of courts already are set to be grounded despite 10 of them remaining with only 20 per cent works to be completed. These are Nyando, Vihiga, Engineer and Kigumo law courts. The World Bank’s Sh11.5 billion for the construction of courts is coming to an end in December and the Judiciary had sought for an extension of time to complete the buildings.

Gichuhi said extension of the World Bank and GTZ funded projects was critical, adding that the Government’s review on the extensions should be done within a week and the report made public.