This archive report was first published on 23 November 2019.
As the country grapples with the effects of severe budget cuts, one institution is set to bear the brunt of the pain: the Judiciary. The supplementary bill that contains the proposals will pass, leaving key departments to live with the situation.
The Judiciary will be hit for Sh3 billion, with devastating consequences for the delivery of justice. Cases listed for hearing at the Appeal Court are piling up because there aren't enough judges to form the desired quorum. Judiciary Registrar Anne Amadi explained that the operations of the Judiciary will grind to a halt in the next two months if the cash is not reinstated.
But the response from the parliamentary Committee on Budget was telling. Members suggested that the Judiciary should shut down corruption cases and only serve justice to the common mwananchi. This is strange logic from our legislators, who seem to think that punishment against those charged with corruption is a luxury that can wait.
However, the fact is that if courts presiding over corruption cases shut down, operations in all the other courts will be impaired for the same reasons. It will be impossible for magistrates to access pens and paper that they need to record the proceedings!
Meanwhile, the Treasury is effecting these cuts and looking for additional cash to disburse to, among others, SGR repayments, the Dongo Kundu project linking Kwale and Mombasa counties, and President Uhuru Kenyatta's Big Four legacy projects. None of these projects bring any immediate benefit to the common mwananchi, who has to spend more to buy food, to the millions of youths who do not have meaningful jobs, and to hundreds of thousands of desperate parents at a loss about what to do in the face of relentless economic pressure.
And then there's the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which is touted as a solution to the country's woes. But its premise is flawed, and it has already been weaponized against political opponents. Kenyans have been trying to be all these things for the last 60 years, but it has not worked. You cannot be loving, considerate, cohesive, peaceful etc. when you are hungry, exploited, lied to, and generally treated as a rug by those you think are friends and leaders.
Neither short-term budget cuts nor the BBI is the silver bullet that will put a smile back on the desperate faces of Kenyans. That answer is unlikely to be provided by this regime. The least Kenyans can hope for is that it is able to manage the coming transition peacefully.
— Tom Mshindi is the former editor-in-chief of the Nation Group and is now consulting., @tmshindi
