Koome commits to protect Judiciary’s independence, judges’ autonomy » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 28 – Chief Justice Martha Koome has committed to rally efforts to protect Judiciary’s independence and safeguard judges’ decisional independence.

Koome stressed she “remain firm and steadfast in safeguarding the decisional autonomy of Judges and Judicial Officers”, as Chairperson of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

“This is a normative obligation flowing directly from the Constitution that the Commission will endeavor to always protect,” she said on Friday during the launch of the Commission’s 2022-2027 Strategic Plan and the revised edition of the Commission’s code of ethics.

In her pursuit to protect the independence of judges, Koome challenged them to maintain and observe ‘judicial hygiene’ and cautioned that “corruption, unethical conduct, impunity, and failure to perform duties vested in any Judge or Judicial officer will not be tolerated”.

“I want to reiterate fostering integrity remains a key cog to our institution-building efforts at the Judiciary,” she said.

She pointed out that the protection of the rule of law and the enforcement of fundamental rights and freedoms are dependent on having an independent Judiciary.

Koome in the meantime reiterated the need to allocate the Judiciary additional resources for it to effectively perform its constitutional mandate to Kenyans.

She stressed that the resources will go a long way in increasing public confidence and trust in the Judiciary.

For effective implementation of the five-year strategic plan and the code of the Ethics, the third arm of government needs a  total of Sh13.4 billion.

Only Sh3 billion was however, allocated to the course leaving the Judiciary with a deficit of Sh10 billion.

“The Commission will implement the Strategic Plan to enhance the institutional, financial, and human resource capacity of all the line institutions that come under the oversight mandate of the JSC being the Judiciary, the National Council for Administration of Justice (NCAJ), Kenya Judiciary Academy (KJA), and the JSC Secretariat,” she said.

The strategic plan has been billed to be instrumental in the realization of the constitutional mandate of JSC that encompasses promoting and facilitating the implementation and accountability of the Judiciary.

The plan has been aligned to the country’s national priorities principally elaborated in the Constitution, the Kenya Vision 2030, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Africa African Union Agenda 2063.

The plan focuses on key strategic results including efficient, accountable, transparent and transformative administration of justice.

Motivated, professional, dynamic, responsive judges, magistrates, registrars, judicial officers and staff, a financial independent and sustainable judiciary and Judicial Service Commission, public confidence and trust in the Judicial Service Commission and finally strengthened institutional capacity of the Judicial Service Commission.