Supreme Court goes on recess starting August 1

Kenya’s Supreme Court will go on recess starting Wednesday.

According to Gazette notice no. 7465, the court will terminate its recess on Friday, September 14.

“The August vacation of the Supreme Court shall commence on Wednesday, 1st August, 2018,” the notice reads.

During the said period, one judge will be available to deal with matters that require urgent attention.

The Supreme Court registry will also be open to the public on weekdays but only from from 9am to 12 noon with the exception of public holidays.

The recess period is usually set aside to allow judges to write judgments.

Judges are scheduled to have their colloquium meeting on August 20 in Mombasa.

They are expected to deliberate on their performance, backlog of cases among other issues affecting the Judiciary.

Recently, Chief Justice David Maraga lamented over the budget cuts by Treasury that he said would seriously affect their operations.

He cited construction projects in Homa Bay, Kabarnet, Marsabit, Amagoro, Kandara, Machakos, Kiambu, Embu, Mandera, Narok, Eldoret, Othaya, Bomet, Garsen, Mombasa, Kitale, Nyeri, Maseno and Makadara.

““When Parliament passed the Appropriation Act, the Judiciary’s total budget allocation was further reduced to Ksh.14.5 billion.

“Out of this, the development budget from the government is only Ksh.50 million,” Maraga said.

The Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association (KMJA) has since urged the government to intervene and reinstate funds allocated to them.