E-justice system on track

The country’s judicial system has made progress in uploading a number of cases into the electronic case management system for easy administration and monitoring, e-justice system project coordinator Justice Dunstain Mwaungulu has said.

Speaking at a press briefing in Blantyre on Thursday, Mwaungulu said he is optimistic that as the Judiciary launches the system in August this year, files from all courts will have been uploaded in the system and all court clerks trained on how to operate the system.

He said the system which will be linked to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is crucial in ensuring speedy trials as it will see judges handle cases electronically even while out of the country.

“This is the system which will see judges and magistrates preside over cases electronically even while out of the country. They can grant injunctions or sign for court documents electronically,” said Mwaungulu.

He said the system will also reduce case delay due to loss of files, reduce backlog in the court system, improve case registration and tracking and ease information sharing between the judiciary and the DPP.

Registrar of the Supreme Court of Appeal and the High Court Joseph Chigona hailed the system, calling it a landmark development in the judicial system.

Chigona expressed gratitude to an American multinational technology company Microsoft for certifying the platform which will be using Microsoft SharePoint collaboration system.

The project is being financed by the European Union (EU) and so far, 272 laptop computers have already been bought for the exercise.

Bulgaria’s top information technology software house, Paraflow Communications built the system which is one of the major programmes in the judiciary strategic plan. n