Judicial services’ procurement committee to award projects up to K5mil

Judge Ellenas Batari says that the National Judicial Staff Services special procurement committee can now have projects worth up to K5million.
Judge Batari, who is the chairman of the committee, made this known after he and fellow committee members were sworn-in to office yesterday.
He said in the past, the Judiciary relied on the Central Supplies and Tenders Board (CSTB) to award contracts below K5 million which he said resulted in considerable difficulties, inconveniences, and delays.
Judge Batari said the move to establish its own procurement processes resulted from a policy shift under former Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia.
He said this meant that the Judiciary would be able to extend its administrative and budget activities to infrastructure developments and procurement of goods and services.
He added that the Judiciary was into court expansion programmes with the construction of new courthouses throughout the country.
“The goal is to make the Courts more accessible to the bulk of the rural population.
“A high of level scrutiny has been maintained in the past and will continue to be observed in the award of contracts and strict supervision of works undertaken to ensure quality and timely delivery on budget.
“Under the partnership programme, several courthouses around the country are being built, either fully funded by district development authorities (DDAs) or co-funded by DDA and the Judiciary.
“Now with our ceiling of K5million, the Judiciary should be able to run with medium to large projects with fewer hiccups,” Judge Batari said.
The other committee members include the National Judicial Staff Service secretary Jack Kariko, registrar of the National and Supreme Court Ian Augerea, NJSS director finance Humphrey John, representatives from the Department of Finance Samson Metofa and Willie Kumanga from National Planning and Monitoring.