Treasury Won’t Go Back On Budget Slash Plans- Yattani to Judiciary

National Treasury acting Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani told off Chief Justice (CJ) David Maraga concerning the allocation of budget for the Judiciary.

The CS’s reaction follows CJ Maraga’s outburst claiming that the judiciary is treated unfairly by the executive, citing reduced funds allocation to the judiciary, when already, some operations cannot be completed due to lack of funds.

Yattani said that all government operations are important and that it was unfair for the CJ to imply that the judiciary is more important and didn’t deserve the budget slash.

Yattani said that the move to slash budget allocation was informed by the fact that the country’s resources are limited and need to be prioritized.

“The only way the government acquires revenue is through the collection of taxes and the judiciary knows this. Yet when we follow up organizations and people who have not been tax compliant, they run to the court, which in turn stops us from continuing our operations. It is the slow conclusion of petitions at the judiciary that stands in the way of tax collection,” said the CS.

CS Yattani likened the current financial state of the country to a household where there are competing needs for limited resources, which is why he is expected to table austerity measures to parliament which will see budget allocation for the executive and judiciary slashed by 2.9 billion shillings.

In his austerity plan, CS Yattani will focus on budgets such as foreign travel, which has been on the spot in the recent past as one activity in which funds are misappropriated.

On the other hand, there is already a petition in court by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) barring the treasury from slashing funds allocated to the judiciary.

Yattani has however remained adamant that all Kenyans need to wake up to the reality that the country has no money and that there is need to cut on the spending, hence, it is not clear whether he will change his stand on the matter.

“It is clear that during my predecessor’s tenure the country was living beyond its limits and that is what we need to change. From where we stand right now in terms of debts, no lenders will be willing to grant Kenya more loans as they fear we may not be able to pay,” said the Yattani.

Yattani indicated that his priority now is to restructure Kenyan debts by retiring expensive loans, including Eurobonds.

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