The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has suspended all recruitment, including the planned hiring of Court of Appeal judges over government-wide budget cuts.

According to Chief Justice Martha Koome, who chairs JSC, the National Treasury advised the Judiciary to reduce expenditures by at least 15 percent.

Further, the JSC said the Judiciary will limit its spending to essential needs.

The move came days after President William Ruto revealed that the government’s revenue shortfall may widen to a high of Kes 1 trillion after he withdrew a proposed tax plan following youth-led protests.

Following withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024, he ordered the National Treasury to prepare a mini-budget for the 2024/2025 financial year.

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The bill was expected to raise Kes346 billion

On Friday, the Head of State signed the Appropriation Bill 2024, which allows the national government and counties to spend as referred to the county allocation and revenue bill back to parliament for reductions in allocation.

“ I have therefore assented to the Appropriation Bill 2024 and instructed the National Treasury to immediately prepare supplementary estimates to reduce expenditure by the amount of revenue that was expected to be generated by the rejected Finance Bill,” he said in a statement.