Chief Justice Mzikamanda promotes justice for all without any prejudice

* We want Justice to be available to people anytime, anywhere without considering who they are and what they do

* As Justice is for all and also it will be one way of promoting transparency and accountability among people

By Prisca Mashushu, MANA

Laws are made by the people and cannot be exercised without them — hence a need for the judiciary to work together to bring justice to action.

This was said by Chief Justice, Rizine Robert Mzikamanda, SC yesterday when he endorsed the judiciary to be publicised to the people as a way of bringing a positive mindset change on the accessibility of the judiciary.

He said this during the Judiciary Open Day in Lilongwe that commenced with a street parade led by Malawi Defence Force brass band from Area 14 to Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) where the whole event was spiced up with different entertainment performances including poetry, quizzes, drama and others.

“We want Justice to be available to people anytime, anywhere without considering who they are and what they do, as Justice is for all and also it will be one way of promoting transparency and accountability among people,” said the Chief Justice.

“The judiciary had developed a service charter that will help to prove and enforce the idea of open justice so that people should learn how it operates.”

He added that the Open Day will help to bring awareness to people who lack knowledge on issues relating to law enforcement and how it operates in the country.

Present was Minister of Justice, Titus Mvalo, who echoed Mzikamanda’s sentiments, saying the Judiciary Open Day is there to expose its implementation and actions for easy understanding of the laws by the people.

“Judiciary is for the people and its operations are done to help them bring justice,” he emphasised. “This open day aims at publicising the judiciary to the public for easy understanding of how the courts work and also it will help to remove fear and misconceptions from the public.”

The Minister applauded sponsors of the event, who included Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), Irish Rule of Law (IRL), Liberty of Health, Lilongwe City Council and several others.

When he presided over the swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed High Court judges at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on August 26, President Lazarus Chakwera called upon them to be proactive to Malawians when carrying out their duties.

The President emphasised on the issue of being systematically organised when carrying out their work, saying the talents, education, experience, integrity and passion have maximum impact in the cause of delivering justice to Malawians.

“As judges you need to make sure to maximise the use of your time, your resources, and your staff in that, you will safeguard your minds and professionalism align with the expectations of your roles”, he said.

The President further said the judges should pay attention to their temperament as it has to do with the proper regulation of emotions and reactions to emerging situations.

“If something happens that stirs in you such emotions of shock, sadness, or anger and you do not take time to reflect on and regulate those emotions, you will inevitably find yourself discharging your duties with an attitude of pettiness and egoism emanating from those unregulated emotions instead of discharging your duties purely on the basis of what is fair according to law,”  Chakwera said.

And on his part Chief Justice Mzikamanda welcomed the appointments, saying that this would enhance the judiciary’s efficiency: “The judiciary needs more judges, so swearing in of these judges will help to ensure that court cases are heard in good time and that justice is served in the country.”

Mzikamanda disclosed that the judiciary aims to increase the number of judges from 58 to 90 to improve service delivery across the country.

The newly-appointed judges include Justice Kondwani Banda, Justice Madalitso Chimwaza, Justice Trouble Kalua and Justice Edna Bodole.

At a two-day judiciary asset recovery trainer workshop in Blantyre this week, Mzikamanda reiterated that Malawi needs to move fast in order to recover all assets that were stolen through corruption and fraud.

Mzikamanda pledged that the judiciary is ready to speed up cases involving financial crimes and he also said plans to identify judges who can speed up cases involving financial crime as Malawians await the establishment of the financial crimes division of the High Court.

Parliament amended guiding laws to provide for a division which will speed up prosecution of such cases, apart from assisting Malawi recover stolen assets.

“We need to recover all assets that have been exported from this country through theft and corruption, because once those resources are returned, they will assist in the provision of various social services such as drugs in hospitals among others, the judiciary is ready but as you know there are other players such as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Anti-Corruption Bureau and other law enforcement agencies,” Mzikamanda is reported to have said.

There are also high expectations on improved handling of tax revenue appeals in the country as the Revenue Appeals Tribunal has taken oath, which the Chief Justice challenged to ensure integrity, transparency and efficiencies in execution of it’s duties.

The government agency was established under the Revenue Appeals Act of 2021 and will be hearing appeals under Customs and Exercise Tax Act, Tax Administration Act, Value Added Tax Act among other tax laws.

The swearing-in ceremony was for the tribunal’s chairperson, deputy chairperson, its own registrar and judicial research officers.—Additional reporting by By Sheminah Nkhoma, MANA; editing by Maravi Express