In January 2019, the Magistrates and Judges Association went to court challenging the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) setting the pay of judicial officers, accusing the SRC of 12 violations of the Constitution including that the agency had no powers to review their benefits.
This was unfortunate coming from interpreters of the law when Article 230(4) of the Constitution is clearer.
In November 2019, the court ruled that the SRC was in violation on four grounds. First, the failure to make provision for security allowances for magistrate and Kadhis, saying it was discriminatory.
Second, failure for providing for transport allowance. Third, that failing to review the non-practice allowance was discriminatory. Lastly, that failure to itemise the allowances was unlawful.
The court gave an order compelling the SRC to review the remuneration of judicial officers in light of the judgment and conclude within six months. Now, this is the crux of the matter.
The reason Kenyans anchored the SRC in the Constitution was that parliamentarians under the old dispensation arbitrarily rewarded themselves hefty perks and it went unchecked. But the magistrates and judges are surprisingly the ones taking us back to that dispensation.