President Uhuru Kenyatta, on Thursday, January 23, assured Chief Justice Maraga that he would not be giving the Judiciary any more money as his hands were tied.
Speaking during the release of the State of the Judiciary and Administration of Justice Report (SOJAR) 2018-2019 held at the Supreme Court Building, Kenyatta criticised the CJ for asking for more money yet it was his courts that were curtailing the president's effort to raise more money.
"I appreciate what the CJ is saying, yes you need more money, but CJ, your courts are the same ones when we propose certain tax measures, you are the first ones to say injunction, sasa hiyo pesa itatoka wapi (where will the money come from)?" he posed.
"You are the first ones saying 'apana, that one no, unconstitutional, oh hiyo sijui oh itakuja review siku hiyo' alafu the same mouth inasema nataka pesa, sasa itatoka wapi jameni? Wewe umefunga alafu unasema unataka, itatoka wapi? (the same mouth blocking my efforts to raise money is the same one asking for more funds, where will it come from?), " he stated while mocking the courts.
"These are serious questions we need to ask ourselves," he reiterated.
The president then tore into claims that his proposed budget cuts would cripple the Judiciary, emphasising that the cuts were implemented across all arms of government.
"Yes, we all want to fly first class but itachukua muda. Pesa ni ile ile tu, hakuna ingine, haizalishwi kwa miti, ni kodi ya Mkenya na ile iko tutagawana sote (We all want to fly first class but the money allocated remains the same and no more, money doesn't grow on trees, it comes from taxes and what we get it is what we'll share)," he explained.
"So we must also now think, how do we operate? Think out of the box, how do we operate within the resources available because we can't create more," he commanded.
He reiterated that the proposed budget cuts would not grind the wheels of justice to a halt, going on to point at the decision to stop buying three newspapers each day for government officials.
"Jameni si ununue gazeti yako ukitoka kwa nyumba, why do you have to find it on your desk? Nunua yako ata mimi siku hizi nanunua yangu, ai jameni! (Buy your own newspapers when you're leaving your house, I also buy mine nowadays)," he advised.
The president, who reiterated that he was not in a fighting mood, went on to express his happiness at hearing that the CJ was going to expedite convictions and that Kenyans would finally get justice in 2020.
"In the period under review just over 3,500 matters were referred to mediation, out of which 2,600 were concluded thereby releasing Ksh7.2 billion that was tied in litigation," he announced.
He then sent the delegates into fits of laughter by skipping a section of his speech, stating that it was too explosive.
"Kuna ingine hapo kali nimetoa (I'll skip parts of my speech)," he said before bursting into laughter.
