We did not Splash 73 Million on Small Claims Court, says Judiciary

The Judiciary has denied claims it spent 73 million shilings on the Kasarani Small Claim Courts.

Judiciary Spokesperson Paul Ndemo, in a statement on Thursday, March 6, said that funds meant for the construction of a small claims court in Nairobi were never disbursed due to budgetary cuts across the public sector.

"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," says Ndemo.

According to Ndemo, initially 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.

He explains that the Dagoretti Law Courts was completed and officially opened by the  Chief Justice Martha Koome on 11th October 2024 adding that upon disbandment of NMS, Judiciary took over construction of the remaining three courts namely Kasarani, Mihang’o and Huruma through a Deed of Novation signed on 28th March 2023.

The works were advertised for Kasarani Law Courts and a contractor was awarded in April 2024 at the cost of Ksh. 73,156,617, says Ndemo.

"Unfortunately shortly thereafter there were budget cuts across the public sector and the Judiciary’s development budget was cut by approximately 50%."

The contract could therefore not be signed and the contractor did not report to site. It's therefore misleading to purport that Ksh. 73 Million of public funds was misused in the construction of Kasarani Small Claims Court, he explains further.

"The plans to complete the Small Claims Courts in Kasarani, Mihang’o and Huruma are still alive and Judiciary has indeed allocated funds in the next financial year to continue with the construction," says the statement.