LSK roots for Judiciary’s financial autonomy to guarantee tamperproof e-filing portal » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 11 – The Law Society of Kenya on Saturday warned the Judiciary’s reliance to the Executive for funding could halt the progress made in digitization the filing of court cases citing the possibility for the system to be abused to mine data.

LSK President Nelson Havi, in a message to mark the African Anti-corruption Day, rooted for the financial autonomy of the Judiciary to address the threat.

“Lawyers have accepted e-filing system. Still, there is merit in the complaint that the system may be abused to mine data. We need to know the capacity of Judiciary to host and protect the data. Relying on the Executive to fund may halt progress,” he stated in a thread published on twitter.

Actors in the justice sector including the Judicial Service Commission under the leadership of Chief Justice David Maraga have over time rooted for the creation of Judiciary Fund to resolve persistent under-funding challenges.

Maraga has proposed an allocation of at least 1.5 per cent of the national budget to progressively attain the globally recommended benchmark of 2.5 per cent, to enhance funding of courts.

The Judiciary currently receives about 0.8 per cent of the national budget.