The Judiciary has clarified that funds meant for the construction of a small claims court in Nairobi were never disbursed due to budgetary cuts across the public sector.
In a statement on Thursday, March 6, the Judiciary Spokesperson Paul Ndemo dismissed claims that the funds, totaling Ksh73 million, meant for the construction of the Kasarani Small Claim Courts were misused.
"The Judiciary has been drawn to a story circulating in sections of social media alleging that over Ksh73 million has been misspent on the construction of a small claim court at Kasarani in Nairobi," he said.
Initially, according to Ndemo, the Judiciary had agreed with the now defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) to construct four small claim courts in Nairobi county, which included Dagoretti, Kasarani, Mihang'o and Huruma.
Ndemo noted that the judiciary, in collaboration with the NMS, completed the construction of the Dagoretti Law Courts which was opened by Chief Justice Martha Koome on October 11, 2024.
"It is noted that as the court celebrated its first 100 days, a total of 820 matters had been filed with 563 cases closed. Meanwhile, 216 small claims matters had been filed with 103 cases closed, " he said.
However, according to the spokesperson, following the disbandment of the NMS, the judiciary took over the construction of the remaining three courts through a Deed of Novation signed on March 28, 2023.
The construction works for the Kasarani Law Courts were then advertised and awarded to a contractor in April 2024.
However, its construction never materialised due to the 50% budgetary cuts that hindered the disbursement of the funds by the treasury, which in turn led to the contract not being signed and the contractor not showing up.
"It is therefore misleading to purport that Ksh 73 Million of public funds was misused in the construction of Kasarani Small Claim Court," he said.
"The correct position is that the funds earmarked for the project were never disbursed by Treasury owing to the budget reduction across the public sector," he added.
The Judiciary, however, assured that it has allocated funds in the next financial year for the construction of the three remaining small claim courts.
"The Judiciary reiterates its commitment to enhancing access to Justice through the Construction of a magistrate court in every sub-county and an Highcourt in every county as envisaged in the institutional blueprint- Social Transformation through access to Justice," he stated.
Kenya’s Small Claims Court is a subordinate court that was established under section 4 of the Small Claims Court Act No. 2 of 2016.
The court is charged with the responsibility of handling civil claims whose subject matter does not exceed Ksh1 Million, within a period of 60 days.
