Supreme Court wins continental award
The Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal has received the 2023 Medal of Merit in Leadership Award from the African Bar Association (AfBA) for promoting the rule of law and judicial independence in Africa.
The award is in recognition of the role the court has played and “continues to play in the promotion of the rule of law, judicial independence and separation of powers in Africa”, according to AfBA.
In an interview yesterday, High Court and Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal registrar Kondwani Banda confirmed the development, saying Chief Justice RizineMzikamanda is set to receive the award in Pretoria, South Africa at the AfBA Conference starting Sunday next week.
Said Banda: “The Honourable the Chief Justice, Rizine Robert Mzikamanda, SC will attend the AfBA annual conference in order to receive the medal on behalf of the Supreme Court of Appeal Bench.”
Mzikamanda is also expected to make a presentation to over 1 500 delegates to the conference taking place between August 6 and 10 2023 at the University of South Africa in Pretoria.
The conference will have South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as the special guest of honour.
This is a second medal in a year to the Malawi Judiciary. In 2022 five High Court of Malawi judges, who presided over the presidential elections case, got an award from the Chatham House in London.
AfBA is a professional body of individual lawyers and national law societies in Africa established in 1971, headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria.
The council of AfBA at its meeting held in Algiers, Algeria, in April this year, unanimously agreed to confer this award on Malawi’s court for its exceptional work.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Building the Legal Profession in Africa under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement” and the keynote will be delivered by Hon. Justice Desmond B. Edwards, the Chief Justice of Sierra Leone.
