Chief Justice David Maraga. [Photo/Citizen TV]
Chief Justice David Maraga is set to visit Taita Taveta County on Tuesday in his second day of a three-day working tour of the Coast region.
Justice Maraga will review the progress of the ongoing construction of a building to house the High Court in Voi.
He is expected in Mombasa on Wednesday where he will lay a foundation stone for the construction of a new building which will house the High Court at the port city.
On Monday, Justice Maraga launched the construction of the Kwale High Court and formally received a newly built Kadhis court in Msambweni from local leaders.
The Msambweni Kadhis court was built through the support of the Constituency Development Fund.
Maraga is also keen on having the Court of Appeal relocated from the Supreme Court building in Nairobi to a new site in Upper Hill
.Speaking during the launch of the State of the Judiciary and the Administration of Justice Report, (SOJAR) 2016-2017 on December 15, the head of the Judiciary asked the Executive and the Parliament to allocate enough resources for the planned expansion.
According to Justice Maraga, the current allocation to the Judiciary, which remains at an average of 1 percent of the national budget, could not sustain some of the development projects hence the need for more funds.
“Indeed, in this financial year, it (Judiciary funding/allocation) slipped to 0.99 percent. This falls below the internationally recommended Judiciary Budget of 2.5 percent of the national budget,” he said.
He pointed out albeit a 67 percent absorption rate.In the 2015/16 Financial Year, the Judiciary absorbed 54 percent of funds allocated to it.
President Uhuru Kenyatta promised to lobby the Parliament to ensure requisite resources are mobilized to facilitate the expansion of the judiciary.