Kenyan commission estimates judges’ car payments at Sh9.8 billion — Nation Kenya

Kenya’s Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), in documents submitted to the country’s Supreme Court, stated that a taxable payment to judges for purchasing cars could cost taxpayers Sh9.8 billion over a four-year period. The commission also warned that this could trigger similar demands from other state officials and heads of public institutions.

As Nation Kenya reports, the SRC appealed to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal upheld a decision to restore for judges a payment of up to Sh10 million for a car. Each judge is entitled to this taxable payment once every four years to purchase a personal vehicle. A hearing at the Supreme Court was scheduled for October 14.

The commission’s position

The SRC argues that the payment was introduced in breach of procedure through circulars issued by the head of public service in 2011, and was subsequently revised in 2015 and 2018. According to the commission, this bypassed its constitutional powers, weakened budget discipline, increased inequality among state officials, and raised public-sector wage expenditure.

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The commission also noted that judges already have official transport and can use a car loan programme for state officials at 3% per annum. The SRC stated that during reviews of judges’ remuneration in 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018, Kenya’s Judicial Service Commission did not inform it about the taxable car allowance payment.

Court of Appeal ruling

In March, a panel of five Court of Appeal judges upheld the High Court’s findings that the payment is an accrued benefit linked to the office of a judge. The court found that a similar entitlement existed before the adoption of the 2010 Constitution: judges had previously enjoyed a benefit allowing them to purchase cars duty-free, which was later converted into a taxable payment.

The Court of Appeal concluded that abolishing the payment would contradict Article 160(4) of the Constitution, which protects judges’ remuneration and benefits from being reduced to their detriment. The judges also agreed that arbitrary changes to such payments could jeopardize judicial independence.