Deputy Chief Justice Lovemore Chikopa has said public officers, in-cluding judicial officers hold their power on the trust of Ma-lawians and should strive to discharge their duties to expectations.
He made the remarks in Mponela, Dowa on Thursday during an in-teraction with the media that the Judiciary Communica-tion Committee under the European Union (EU)-funded Chilungamo II Justice Programme organised.
Said Chikopa: “Just as public officers, judges wear ‘borrowed robes’. They serve on behalf of Malawians. If trust is lost, the people can demand a new office bearer. A judge must be independent, not because a judge must be independent, but because Mala-wians live by an independent Judiciary.”
He also said transparency, accountability and independence are rights of Malawians and must have a practical meaning attached to them.
On his part, Chilungamo II Access to Justice programme manager Charles Rimanga said the programme aims at promoting human and effective delivery of justice in the country so that everyone, including the vulnerable in rural areas access justice.
He said the interface between the Judiciary and the media is key to ensuring that the right message gets to the public.
In an interview, Media Council of Malawi (MCM) executive director Moses Kaufa said a study by the regulator showed that there is a knowledge gap among some journalist about Judiciary operations and proceedings hence the training.
He said: “So if we work together with the Judiciary we will be able to train journalists on how best they can interpret court proceedings and be able to give people the opportunity to make right opinions.
“And, on the other hand, the Judiciary has also considered that it was their fault that they were not coming to interact with the media.”
The EU recently injected 17 million euros in the programme which is expected to fix the country’s justice system by tackling problems such as expensive legal fees, confusing processes, and corruption that stop ordinary people from getting fair treatment in courts.
Other implementing partners are the Malawi Human Rights Commission, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Legal Aid Bureau, Malawi Police Service and Malawi Prison Service.
