Judiciary rues misinformation

Chief Justice (CJ) Rizine Mzikamanda has expressed concern over misinformation about how the Judiciary works by a section of the public, stating that most of the allegations are baseless.

He said this in an interview in Blantyre yesterday on the sidelines of the inaugural Malawi Judiciary Open Day.

Mzikamanda observed that a lot of people share wrong information about the country’s courts and that this tends to deter some citizens from seeking court service.

He said: “Sometimes criticisms come because of lack of information and some of the criticisms are baseless.

“We think that the public should be able to come to us and seek explanations of the way we do things, so that they can appreciate the justice that we deliver.”

Mzikamanda also stressed the need for the Judiciary to raise awareness on the Judicial Complaints Management Committee, saying most Malawians seem to be unaware of it.

In her brief yesterday, Judiciary deputy director of human resource Naomi Kwerani said between January 2022 and September 2023, they received 10 complaints of which nine were already addressed.

Judicial Complaints Management Committee chairperson Dingiswayo Madise, a judge of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal, said common complaints include delays to set dates for cases and delayed judgements.

On the backlog of cases, Mzikamanda noted that the problem is a global trend and that Malawi is still trying to find better ways of addressing the challenges.

He said lack of resources, inadequate funding and under staffing are some of the challenges affecting service delivery at Judiciary.

“We think that we can still hear other voices and so you can be assured that it is on our mind reducing backlog and judgement delay because we operate in a network of players in the judicial actors,” explained Mzikamanda.

In an earlier interview yesterday, Registrar of the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal Kondwani Banda said as of yesterday, the Industrial Relations Court (IRC) had about 12 000 incomplete cases against seven judicial officers.

But he said the Judiciary has put in place several mechanisms to beef up the IRC judicial officers to clear some of the cases.

In February this year, nine civil society organisations (CSOs) faulted the Judiciary for slowing the fight against corruption due to delays to conclude cases and failure to hold to account judges and officers embroiled in bribery allegations.

The CSOs argued that instead, the Anti-Corruption Bureau suffers public backlash when cases drag.

Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda yesterday hailed the Judiciary for opening up to the public.

He said: “The Executive is committed to help in the clearing of the backlog of cases as evidenced by appointments of High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal judges.

“As the Executive, another step that was taken was the recent amendments of the 2022 Court’s Act that, for example, judgements are delivered within 90 days after concluding the trial.”

Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance executive director Victor Mhango also commended the Judiciary for the Open Day, saying it’s a step towards the improvement of access to justice.

The open day, which started with a big walk from Kamuzu Stadium upper ground to Chichiri Court Complex, was celebrated under the theme ‘Serving people better.’