High Court gets 7 new judges

President Lazarus Chakwera has appointed seven new judges of the High Court of Malawi, a move Chief Justice Rezine Mzikamanda says will help speed up justice delivery.

In a telephone interview on Monday, the Chief Justice said the appointments are with immediate effect and were made on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission.

Mzikamanda said the new judges are expected to expedite the disposal of cases which has been a challenge in recent years due to shortage of judges.

He said: “The appointments are with immediate effect. The judges are less than adequate, but they will go a long way in helping filling the gap of High Court judges.”

Out of the seven newly appointed judges, three are female and four male. They are registrar of the High Court and Malawi  Supreme Court of Appeal Gladys Gondwe, Blantyre chief resident magistrate Rosemary Kayira and Office of the Ombudsman director of legal affairs Gloria Namonde.

The male appointees are former Director of Public Prosecutions Bruno Kalemba, Lilongwe chief resident magistrate Patrick Chirwa, Mzuzu chief resident magistrate Dickson Sankhulani and High Court of Malawi Principal Registry chief resident magistrate Chimbizgani Kacheche.

According to the Judiciary, the High Court of Malawi has an establishment of 45 judges, but had 35 and the seven will bring the number to 42.

Meanwhile, the Malawi Law Society (MLS) has commended the President for making the appointments, saying it was long overdue for the High Court of Malawi to have an adequate number of judges.

MLS president Patrick Mpaka said in an interview on Monday they hope that the additional judges will be able to clear a backlog of cases that has been a challenge for court users in recent years.

However, he said the number of High Court judges is expected to be reduced since Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal judges will also have to be picked from the same crop.

The Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal is designed to have 13 judges, but currently has eight justices of appeal.

In November 2020, five months after winning the June 23 court-sanctioned Fresh Presidential Election, Chakwera appointed 12 new High Court Judges and four new judges to the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal.

The appointments, then, increased the number of judges in the High Court of Malawi from 27 to 35.

The appointments came eight months after his predecessor Peter Mutharika in March 2020 appointed three new High Court of Malawi judges.