APM urges Judiciary to join corruption fight

President Peter Mutharika has called on the Judiciary to work together with his administration in the fight against corruption.

Speaking when he presided over the swearing-in ceremony of four newly appointed High Court judges at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre yesterday, Mutharika said the public will take government seriously if all branches deal with matters of corruption decisively and with the promptness they require.

“I want to appeal to the Judiciary that as a nation let us send a stern signal out there that this nation is ready to get rid of corrupt practices. In addition to my commitment in fighting corruption, my government will keep on promoting human rights.

“We will endeavour to uphold the human rights of our citizens and to realise this, we need to have an independent, professional, and accountable Judiciary,” he said.

Mutharika also said government will continue to promote good governance through the separation of powers among the three branches of government; the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.

However, he acknowledged that separation of powers does not mean that the three branches must work in a disjointed manner, or that they must always be fighting against each other.

“They are supposed to be a check on each other and, where necessary, they must complement each other because, ultimately, we have one government which ought to work in a unified way,” Mutharika said.

To the four judges, Mutharika said they were appointed because he believes they have credentials to execute justice impartially and timely.

In his remarks, Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda described the swearing-in of the new judges as a momentous occasion for the Judiciary.

“When you have a new member in the family, it is always an exciting moment. The workload has increased over time and with more judges, certainly we will be able to share the burden and be more effective.

“We now have 22 judges in the High Court and with the four; it will bring the number to 26. We have two judges in Mzuzu, two judges in Zomba, six judges in Lilongwe and the rest in Blantyre so the four new judges will be spread across the country,” said Nyirenda in an interview on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony.

The four newly sworn in judges are Joseph Chigona, who was registrar of Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal and High Court of Malawi; Dorothy de Grabrielle who was chairperson of Industrial Relations Court (IRC); Ruth Chinangwa, who was chief resident magistrate; and George Bakuwa, a private practice lawyer who served as company secretary at State produce trader Admarc. n