Malawi Law Society (MLS) has faulted the Judiciary for ignoring recommendations made in 2021 for addressing issues of misconduct among judicial officers, including the slow pace of justice delivery in the country’s courts.
MLS president Patrick Mpaka revealed this in an interview yesterday, saying during a meeting they held on April 28 2021, the Judiciary led by Justice Lovemore Chikopa, acknowledged concerns of delayed justice.
He said it is sad that up to now, nothing has been done to address the concerns.
Mpaka was reacting to sentiments from the Judiciary this week that it will not act on allegations of misconduct involving High Court Commercial Division Judge Kenan Manda and any other judicial officers unless they receive detailed and specific complaints.
But a joint statement from the meeting that The Nation has seen co-signed by Mpaka and former Chief Justice (CJ) Andrew Nyirenda, says while some judicial officers deliver court decisions on time, delays by other judicial officers to do the same are caused by several reasons which have not been thoroughly explored and identified.
Reads the statement: “At the meeting of April 28 2021, the problem of delayed court judgements and rulings was acknowledged as a disservice to the public. The Judiciary expressed a shared desire with the Law Society to urgently improve on the pace of justice delivery.”
According to the statement, the meeting resolved to constitute a special semi-autonomous task force mandated to conduct research on the underlying causes of frequent delays in the delivery of judgements and assess the scale and magnitude of the problem at the High Court and Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal.
Mpaka said the previous joint resolution on the matter has also been recently highlighted in the statement dated October 13 2024 where MLS supported calls for the Judicial Service Commission (JCS) to institute an inquiry into the allegations.
It said MLS has since April 2021 been in constant public and private engagement with many stakeholders in the justice administration sector, including the Judiciary.
“The society has also participated in and provided its insights to the relevant authorities, including CJ Rizine Mzikamanda on matters concerning the administration of justice generally and concerning Justice Kenan Manda in particular.
“The society’s latest position concerning allegations of misconduct by Judge Manda is contained in a confidential memo dated April 30 2024 which the CJ duly acknowledged on 7th May 2024,” reads the statement in part.
Judge Manda’s alleged misconduct has been brought to the limelight by lawyer Alexious Kamangila, who recently made allegations of corruption involving judges, lawyers and the Judiciary in general through social media.
But when asked if he would file a particularised complaint with the Judiciary, Kamangila dismissed the call, describing the requirement as irrelevant.
He said: “Thomas Aquinas says that it is our legal obligation to breach an unjust law. What have complaints lodged before achieved? How do you expect to do the same thing every time and expect a different result?”
But speaking on Wednesday on what the Judiciary will do in view of the allegations, acting registrar of the High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal Innocent Nebi said they will take action if his office receives a “sufficiently particularised complaint” regarding the judges’ alleged misconduct.
He said once such a complaint is lodged, his office will refer the matter either to the Judiciary Complaints Management Committee or the Judiciary Institutional Integrity Committee to provide guidance for investigations.
He said: “The Judiciary, acting on recommendations from these committees, would refer the matter to the JSC and [or] law enforcement agencies if the same is merited.”
Nebi also indicated that it is a sufficiently particularised complaint that would prompt the JSC to investigate the allegations.
The Judiciary is on record as having said in February 2018 that judges risked disciplinary action for failing to deliver judgements on outstanding cases on time, with some judges keeping litigants waiting for justice for more than a decade.
Former registrar of the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal Agnes Patemba said the development followed a concern former Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda raised on delayed delivery of judgements during a judges’ meeting in Mangochi.
She said the Chief Justice took the concerns raised by the court users seriously and directed all judges to finalise their outstanding judgements by September that year failing which action would be taken on them.
Said Patemba: “Judges agreed to clear outstanding judgements by September. If some judges will not be done with outstanding judgements by then, they will appear before the JSC.”
