Thursday, March 28, 2024

LAZ attacks on Judiciary anger Union

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File:Some female judges and other judiciary staff pose for a photograph after a workshop in Lusaka

The Judiciary and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (JAWUZ) has taken a swipe at the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) for using the media to call for reforms in the Judiciary.

Speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka today, union President Peter Mwale called on LAZ to engage stakeholders to improve and expand service delivery to the public in the dispensation of justice as opposed to speaking through the media.

And in response to recent statements that LAZ has issued on the Judiciary, Mr. Mwale has demanded that LAZ desists from issuing such statements as they have the potential to destroy and ruin the integrity and independence of the Judiciary.

He says it is unfair for LAZ as a professional body to call for the dismissal of any perceived corrupt judges and Magistrates through the media on unsubstantiated facts knowing that such officers cannot defend themselves through the press.

Mr. Mwale says LAZ is fully aware of the challenges that the Judiciary is faced with and that it is important for the Law Association to help address the constraints and not use their positions to seek for jobs in government.

And Mr. Mwale has refuted assertions of a management crisis in the Judiciary stating that management is intact and capable of delivering better services with regards to the dispensation of justice in the country.

Meanwhile, the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has increased calls for an independent Chief Justice through judicial reforms charging that the current Chief Justice position held by Justice Ernest Sakala enjoys no ‘security of tenure’ as Zambia’s democracy continues to grow, according to correspondence to the Minister of Justice in possession of the Daily Mail.

“The current Chief Justice does not enjoy security of tenure as he is on a contract and serves at the President’s pleasure,” the LAZ letter to the Ministry of Justice reads, adding: “This is not a healthy state of affairs requiring immediate remedy.”

LAZ president James Banda confirmed that there is correspondence to that effect but “I really can’t say anything more at this stage. I have to call you back.”

But the Daily Mail can confirm that it is LAZ’s considered position that a Chief Justice that serves at the mercy of the President is open to “manipulation” by the executive, hence the need to have the position protected by law the way positions such as Director of Public Prosecutions, Attorney-General and Solicitor-General are.

LAZ also wants High Court judges to be more independent via a reform that shall ensure they do not serve on contract because that, too, makes them weak, “especially that the terms of the contracts are not known to the public.”

The law lobby group also wants the Ministry of Justice to shake up the bench by replacing the top brass at the judiciary as soon as possible as the judiciary reforms continue, suggesting that “we already have eminent persons of high integrity who we are confident will spearhead reforms and ensure that the integrity of the judiciary is restored and maintained.”

This is the first time LAZ has effectively passed a vote-of-no-confidence in the current judiciary heads, in a development that may culminate in major changes in the judiciary depending on the response from the Minister of Justice.

Mr Banda told the Minister of Justice in the letter that the need for change was urgent in order for progressive judicial reforms to commence.

Chief Justice Ernest Sakala, a reformist himself, could not be reached for a comment yesterday.

15 COMMENTS

  1. LAZ is very right, the truth hates. We need sanity in this important organ of our gvt. Who in Zambia doesn’t know that corruption had invaded the judiciary esp during RB? Just go back and do your home work. 

  2. Everybody knows that our judiciary is corrupt. So why pretend that all is fine? This hypocricy must stop. LAZ is doing just fine since they are the experts on law, it is their envelope to deal with. We must support them so that we can get a decent judiciary and not the one where the rich get justice, and the poor get jailed!

  3. They lost their Independence with the advent of the third republic. Hard to imagine that some of the people occupying higher Judicial offices are among the gallant Judges who used to stand up to the one party state. There is need for deep cleansing.

  4. LAZ’s observations and suggestions are 100% right. Our judiciary is need of serious reforms. The reforms should start with the office of the Chief Justice. There has been alot of unquestionable judgments especially those involving big people who were friends to the former ruling party.

  5. I have never understood why an institution like the Judiciary that equally survives on Tax payers money feels it should not be criticised in the public who are they when they chew our bucks plus kickbacks which are the order of the day

  6. LAZ can/will not be formidable in the Zambian politics. The country has had servire national legal issues where LAZ would have directed and help guide the country to proceed with the rule of law but often fails miserably. LAZ members in govt become opposition group to general LAZ membership and yet profess on one law. What will Mwenya Musege do when while LAZ president was PF cadre is now AG. He wanted ZNBC taken to court and now wonder if still holds that view. LAZ is weakened by political partisanship its members enspouse. Their service in public office will always lack impartiality.

  7. ba LAZ bafikkala,before you talk about the judges,is mutembo nchito the right person to hold that office?muleba fair

  8. LAZ IS RIGHT. THE JUDICIARY NEEDS SERIOUS REFORM AND IF PEOPLE HAVE LIVED THE EXPERIENCE OF JUDICIAL CORRUPTION DO THESE OFFICIALS HONESTLY THINK THEY CAN KEEP THINGS HIDDEN. ALL THE EXPOSURE I’VE READ HAVE BEEN ORDINARY PEOPLES STORIES OF HOW THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM LET THEM DOWN. LAZ MEMBERS ARE ALSO PARTLY TO BLAME. OVER HAUL OF THE ENTIRE SYSTEM IS REQUIRED FROM BOTH SIDES. THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS BECAUSE IF ZAMBIA BECOMES KNOWN FOR THE CORRUPTION OF THE JUDICIARY AND FAITH IN THE LAW FAILS, THE ALTERNATIVES WILL BE WORSE THAT WHAT ANYONE CAN IMAGINE. STOP PROTECTING PEOPLE YOU KNOW ARE CORRODING JUSTICE IN ZAMBIA, ARREST THOSE WHO DO HIDE CORRUPTION AND REMEBER THE RULE OF LAW, NO ONE, INCLUDING A JUDGE IS ABOVE THE LAW.

  9. We can only speculate that the PF programme was to organise the infiltration of crooked lawyers into the structure of LAZ in order to distort the status of the Association as a vanguard of legal intellectuals. The likes of Musa Mwenye are still lurking within the LAZ structures. Their guns are targetted at fine Magistrates and Judges so as to ensure that crooks easily win cases in Courts.

  10. UNZA’s School of Law must review its curriculum in order to train legal minds of high quality in Southern Africa and abroad. The sprouting of legal crooks must be nipped in the bud stage.

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