JSC Suspends Recruitment Of Court of Appeal Judges

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has suspended the recruitment of 11 Court of Appeal Judges.

In a statement of Wednesday, July 3, JSC said it was forced to suspend the recruitment following the National Treasury’s directive curtailing expenditure to 15% of the appropriated budget.

The Commission noted that the directive has far-reaching consequences on the operations of the Judiciary and the JSC.

“In this regard, we are compelled to make major adjustments to planned programs and activities. Regrettably, this has necessitated the decision by the JSC to suspend all pending recruitments including the 11 (eleven) Judges of the Court of Appeal which was scheduled to commence today,” read the statement.

JSC mentioned that the Court of Appeal has a total of 29 Judges serving in six stations across the country which translates to 9 benches at any given time with the court having a total of 13, 331 pending cases as of May 2024.

The commission pointed out that the failure to recruit the judges would result in more pending cases before the court.

Further, JSC highlighted that the tragic incident that led to the death of Monica Kivuti at the Makadara Law Courts has necessitated restructuring and reallocation of the budget to enhance security arrangements.

“This is intended to provide a safe environment for all users of our courts including members of the public. The Judiciary will therefore require additional resources in the FY 2024/2025 to address these immediate concerns,” JSC added.

The commission said it would engage Parliament and the Executive with a view to enhancing and securing the Judiciary and the JSC budget for the effective functioning of the Judiciary.