Judiciary staff called to serve public
The Malawi Judiciary yesterday hosted an open day in Lilongwe with an appeal to staff to always focus on their call to serve the public to promote open justice values.
Chief Justice Rizine Mzikamanda, speaking in Lilongwe yesterday when he presided over the Judiciary Open Day aimed at sensitising the public on operations of the Judiciary and the need to seek services of the court, said the concept of open justice seeks to make judicial institutions more transparent, participatory, accountable and inclusive, all of which are open government values.
He said: “Any restrictions to open justice must be limited to not more than that which is strictly necessary to protect, completing public interest in the administration of justice.
“And to be sure, we in the courts practice open justice as the public are free to attend court hearings on civil and criminal trials, subject of course to limited restrictions under the law.”
Mzikamanda said the Judiciary is also using the open days to clear people’s misconceptions about the courts, adding that the courts are there to serve people and that people need to utilise them.
In an interview later, he said the Judiciary is still struggling with staff shortages and needs at least 32 more judges and many more magistrates to effectively handle the workload and fast track the disposal of cases.
Nevertheless, Mzikamanda said the Judiciary is committed to utilising the current workforce and resources to reduce backlog.
He said: “We are recruiting more magistrates. We haven’t set up the ideal number of magistrates. The number of courts available will dictate how many we may need.
“I should also add that we are also in the process of constructing more courts in the rural areas to make sure that we bring justice close to the people.”
In his remarks, Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo said his ministry is facing funding challenges, but appreciates that there are many sectors that need government resources which makes it difficult for the Treasury to allocate resources as needed.
“We are trying to see if in future some of the funds that the Judiciary collects can be kept by the Judiciary and not deposited in the government central account,” he said.
Mvalo also said the Judiciary is for the people and people need to embrace it.
He hailed the initiative of open days, saying it will help people understand the Judiciary better.
Said Mvalo: “To most people, the Judiciary is mystical, it is complicated, it is a monster when in actual fact the Judiciary is there for the people.”
This year’s Judiciary Open Day was celebrated under the theme ‘Our people, their Judiciary’.
The first in the series of open days was held in Blantyre last year.
The event yesterday was marked by various activities, including a march, drama performances promoting messages on operations of the courts and the mounting of pavilions where roles of various courts were displayed.
